


Princess Story

by CB_Magique



Series: Compilation of the Heart [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Disney Town, I'm not kidding, Kingdom Hearts is now part Disney Musical, Multi, Musical, You've been warned, ballet battles, ice skating battles, post-KH2, the Unversed, zexiri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-02-28 16:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 60
Words: 142,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2738609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CB_Magique/pseuds/CB_Magique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world didn't change but they had. Sora and Riku have been away from Kairi for too long, or was it the other way around? They've changed; they couldn't stay the same and she couldn't keep up. </p><p>But she's going to catch up somehow because when she takes a walk through the door to the heart of the Destiny Islands she inexplicably winds up in a wintery Disney Town. She'll try to get home, of course, but the longer she's there the more she sees the opportunity she wanted to catch up with her boys. Unfortunately, the past that she lost when she arrived on the Islands is also trying to catch up with her, trying to pull her back to a world she's forgotten and tying her up with a very impossible Nobody.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't Ever Change

**Author's Note:**

> So, this has been around for a while over on fanfiction.net but I decided to repost it because AO3 lets you do this thing where you can put works in a series and for a while I've been working on a huge progressive plot that stemmed from this story and a couple of others that are still in progress. I have been very slow-going on this project T_T  
> AO3 also lets you do downloads of entire stories, which is awesome. I'll gradually be posting the entire story up over the next few days, maybe do some edits that will be largely cosmetic and not drastically change anything that wasn't already in the fanfiction.net version. I am excited.

Kairi sighed and added some cadmium red to her latest drawing. They were just flowers; plain, thoughtless flowers; maybe even a little childish in style. Returning to the island with Sora and Riku was supposed to make everything better. Days filled with tropical sunshine and rainbows and kittens and good things like that. Instead, Kairi couldn't remember a time when she had felt this sad. The blossoming relationship she'd wanted to nurture and bloom was beginning to wilt ever so slightly already. It was back to the way it always was on the islands. Nothing changed, not even Sora.

" _Sora, don't ever change."_

She wished she had bitten her tongue and held those words in her throat. She regretted them, if nothing else. They meant Sora could never be anything more than her friend. That's what it seemed like he intended to be as well. When they met in The World That Never Was, Kairi had suddenly had this vision of them running into each other's arms, like in a movie or a romance novel. However, Sora just shuffled about awkwardly, torn between jumping in with his whole being and stepping back. It was like there were equal parts of him tearing him two ways – one wanted to love Kairi the way she wanted to be loved while the other just wanted to stay friends.

She sighed, flipped over a completed page of flowers and started to draw more flowers on the next page in her new sketchbook. She'd been so taken by drawing since her return from The World That Never Was. It was probably because of her Nobody Naminé, an avid artist. Kairi was always quite good with fine technical skills like this (at least better than Sora was) but she didn't have the passion for it. Now it just came naturally… too naturally.

She pointed her toes to skim the surface of the waves as they rolled in under the jetty on her small island. She'd only done one pink flower before she looked up to the main island. She'd refused to come back to the little playing island until she remembered Sora, now she refused to leave unless Sora brought her back. It was still quite early in the day so there was plenty of time. A boat was approaching from the distance but she could see that it wasn't Sora on board. In fact, there were three people on board: Tidus, Selphie and Wakka.

Kairi sighed again and closed her sketchbook, putting her pencils back in their tin in colour order. She didn't really like those three. They were noisy. Noisy and silly. Well, Sora was silly but never as noisy as they were. Riku was neither; he was the absolute opposite of practically everyone on the islands. He was more like her and sometimes Kairi wondered if he was actually from another world too. Not only was the colour of his hair strange compared to others, the pallor of his skin was too. Whenever Sora or the other three spent copious hours in the sun they came back with a burn that only lasted one afternoon and the next day it developed into a clean tan. For Kairi and Riku, the sunburn stung for days and caused their skin to peel and flake. It was a particular problem for Riku because he liked to be outdoors and in the sun and was noticed for spending a lot of time by the Paupu palm tree – in the sun it should be noted. For the amount of time Sora spent sleeping in the sun, his tan was actually quite weak, but then again, he also spent a lot of time in the cave or in the cubby houses and in the shade and always insisted on sitting on the shadier end of the Paupu trunk. Wakka had the best tan. He was like Riku in that he was always standing in the sun. Tidus was similar to Sora, preferring to spend time in the shade or at least in the shadier places when he could. Selphie was also a quite fair-skinned but for a different reason. She envied Kairi and Riku for their pink lips and rosy cheeks and their pale complexions and the smooth illusion of porcelain given by their fair skin. She would apply sunscreen regularly and practically caked it on. But she was never diligent enough to stay in the shade all the time to complete the whitening and while the sunscreen kept her somewhat fairer, she could never match Kairi or Riku.

"Hey, Kairi! What's up?" Tidus yelled. Kairi just smiled and stood up as Tidus lassoed a rope around a post on their tiny pier. He grinned at her and Kairi supposed he'd thought she would be impressed that he could throw a rope over a wooden post with a fair deal of accuracy.

" _Get over yourself,"_ she thought bitterly. It wasn't a hard thing to do and she'd seen Sora and Riku do much more impressive things. Although to be fair, if they were to have a competition to see who would actually _miss_ the post with the rope, Sora would probably be the one to do it.

"When'd you get out here?" Wakka asked as he jumped out of the boat.

"This morning," Kairi replied. "It was still kinda dark out."

"Wow, you've been here all this time?" Selphie said in awe, stepping onto the pier ahead of Tidus, who seemed slightly annoyed. "What did you do all this time by yourself? Were you drawing again?"

Kairi nodded.

"Cool! Can I see?"

"Yeah, okay." Kairi handed over her sketchbook and Selphie excitedly flipped through the pages upon pages of flowers drawn in the book. Nothing but flowers. Yet Selphie wasn't deterred. She was never deterred.

"Where's Sora?" Tidus asked. Kairi waited for a moment, wondering if he was going to ask about Riku but when he just looked at her expectantly she assumed he wasn't going to ask.

"I don't know, I've been here all day. I was hoping one of you would tell me where he is."

Selphie looked up from yet another picture of flowers briefly to shrug her shoulders. "These flowers are really good by the way. I wish I could draw like this."

However, Wakka looked a bit apprehensive. "He's at home."

Kairi turned her attention to him and was only slightly aware of Tidus' annoyance at being the one ignored while the other got to engage in some form of conversation.

"Why?" Kairi asked. Wasn't he going to come and get her?

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Tidus said, trying to get her attention back.

"What?"

Tidus knew what was going on? Kairi was a bit perturbed at the thought that Tidus knew what it meant if Sora was at home and she didn't.

"He's got issues with the family and all, ya," Wakka explained.

"Who does?" Selphie asked, closing the book upon viewing the final picture and coming in to stand with the group.

"Sora does," Tidus replied. "He hasn't been settling in well."

"Settling in from what?" Wakka inquired. He and Selphie both gave Tidus suspicious glares. Kairi's concerned stare was milder but also suspicious.

"Whatever's gotten him so worked up, obviously," Tidus answered as if that were common knowledge. Everyone else sighed and glared at him for getting their curiosities whet.

"What's the problem?" asked Selphie.

"How should I know? I didn't even know where he was. Wakka, you tell us."

Wakka looked at his feet and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know how much right I really have to tell you something like this, but I think it's mainly with his sister."

"His sister and your brother still hang out?" Selphie interrupted. "That's so cute! They are so going to get together when they're older."

"That's beside the point," Wakka said. "Anyway, my bro reckons that Sunni's real peeved 'cause Sora's ignoring her or something. Somehow he doesn't even remember her name."

"Sunni?" Kairi repeated. She'd been living on the islands for ten years now (or something close to) and she couldn't recall… oh, wait, yes she could. It had been a long time since she'd last seen Sunni but Kairi honestly tried to stay away from her. When Kairi had met her three years ago as a four-year-old the girl just gave her a glare and a pout. Kairi had no idea what she'd done to deserve it. She refused to answer Kairi's questions or remark on her comments and when Sora said somewhat nervously, "I'm sure you'll get along in the future," she snapped back with:

"Never!"

Kairi's impression was that Sunni couldn't be civil.

"Oh, well, I'm sure this will sort itself out, right?" Selphie said. "It's not as though we can really intervene, what with this being all to do with his family."

Tidus sighed and looked a little bit troubled but he pressed on with the conversation nonetheless. "Well, if that's the case then Sora might not come today. Anyone know where Riku is then?"

"Ah… no," Selphie replied.

"Beats me," said Wakka.

"That's… odd…" Kairi muttered, turning to stare at the main island. Sora wasn't coming, Riku wasn't coming… no one would come and get her? Still, she steeled herself and opted to wait until someone came. They couldn't have forgotten her; she wouldn't allow herself to even think that they'd forgotten her.


	2. Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi sulks.

Kairi felt totally and utterly forgotten. It was evening and neither Sora nor Riku had showed up on the island. She'd been stuck with the noisy ones all day. The stars were starting to come out and the trio had decided to leave, offering to take Kairi across with them. She refused.

Now, she watched their boat sail away and sighed. A whole day without her best friends. It was agonising. Kairi didn't know what to do now. Should she just go back home? No, she decided to be adamant even if she had to camp on the island that night and it looked as though she'd have to because the sky got darker and darker until there was no way any sane person would even attempt to cross the water. It was scaring her. Sora and Riku were her whole life. Of course, her foster family was kind and the "Three Noisies" often showed that they cared about her and liked being her friend but she would have never been the person she was now without those two. They taught her how to climb palm trees and catch fish without fishing poles and row a boat by herself and they even tutored her with schoolwork (well… Riku tutored since Sora got even more confused than Kairi did). With Sora and Riku everyone else faded into the background, even the noise that Tidus, Wakka and Selphie created, her foster parents, Sunni and stinging sunburns. When they disappeared everything hit her in the face with a vicious backlash. Everything that was partially whitewashed behind the warming friendship of Sora and Riku exploded with livid colours so suddenly it made her sick. It engulfed her so completely that she became dizzy and distracted. It was scary. Upon their return everything faded back into that pastel background scenery, the noise died down and the sunburn didn't hurt as much.

She'd spent a whole year in the sickeningly vivid world. For a whole year she had an unnamed boy and a lost friend to think about. She could wrack her memory, play mind games with herself to figure out who her mystery boy was. You can only think about what someone may be doing in their absence for so long, and then you'll have to find another way to entertain yourself. Kairi listened. And it was amazing what she had heard.

Normally, she disliked the chatter that Tidus, Selphie and Wakka engaged in. It was talk from the main islands and it was all about things that happened _over there_. It corrupted the little play island, in Kairi's mind. Sora, Riku, and herself never talked about things from the main island, the little island was a different world altogether. But when Kairi heard all of the talk from the main islands it was amazing what she didn't know. Apparently Tidus and Wakka had told the school coach about the underwater ballgame they had invented and through some refining of the rules, advertising and a little bit of bureaucracy they had put together their first Little League of three teams. Selphie was in the theatre troupe now and her repertoire of fairy tales was more expansive than Kairi had originally thought. Apparently she was failing at maths and science too. Tidus was failing at everything except his ballgame and Wakka was the middleman, as always; not terrible, not excellent. They talked about magazines, food, homework, video games and sports…

… But they very rarely talked about her. When they did Tidus did most of the talking (which she didn't find surprising, she suspected that he had a crush on her anyway). They actually knew very little about her. Yet they knew a lot about Sora and Riku.

Speaking of which, where did they go?

* * *

Well… Sora had spent all day having an audience with his mother where he was forced to spill the details of his absences. Riku, on the other hand, was still reeling from a violent confrontation with his father that left him too moody and depressed to bring himself to have fun.

As the day started to wind down and the sky became tinged with orange, their thoughts were almost simultaneous: _"Should we go and get Kairi before it's too late? Nah, she's a big girl; she'll be able to bring herself home."_


	3. Behind the Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi wanders into Disney Town.

Being outside in the dark was a scary thing on its own. All of the strange night creatures calling, that odd plop or splash in the water and the occasional rustle in the leaves added to the eeriness. Kairi lit a fire on the sand on the beach and tried to embrace herself within its glow but the shadows around her only darkened and lengthened, flickered and wavered until Kairi was almost tempted to put the fire out for fear that there were actually Heartless residing in those shadows. She looked down at the cover of her sketchbook and sighed. What a way to spend a night, alone on the beach.

" _Don't we all suffer in silence..."_ a gentle voice sang.

Kairi gasped and sat up straight, scooping up her sketchbook and pencil tin to hold them tightly against her chest. "Wh-who's that?" she stammered.

" _Pain is so easy to find,"_ the voice continued.

Kairi turned around and pushed her back as close as she dared to the fire, feeling the searing tongues of its heat fiercely licking her back. The shadows wavered and darkened but she was still alone.

" _Happiness is a fragile miracle,  
but it can be hard to remind."_

"Okay, seriously, you'd better come out here!" Kairi shouted into the darkness. "You're really creeping me out! Is that you, Sora?"

Kairi didn't know why but Sora had returned from his latest adventure with some amazing singing talent. It truly was incredible since he'd never been commended for his singing voice and in the past when he had tried to sing he'd been tone-deaf.

"Come this way," the voice whispered.

Kairi didn't know how she knew. She automatically turned to the entrance of the secret cave. She stood up and the heat behind her cooled so quickly she felt as though someone was rubbing ice on her back. She took slow steps towards the cave and crawled into it.

Nothing had changed. The cave was chocked full of drawings and scratches from games she and Sora used to play on the walls. White chalk on grey stone... and the door. She giggled when she remembered how Riku and Sora used to argue about it. Sora would insist that it wasn't really a door because it didn't have a handle or a keyhole. Riku argued the opposite point. And now Kairi wondered. She knew it was the door to the world's heart – she'd learnt at least that much – but if she were to walk through it now, where would she end up?

She began to approach the door. Perhaps the door might just take her back to her true world. She hesitated. What did she have to lose? Her entire life on the islands revolved around just two people, while the life of a princess may lie behind that door. She picked her head up a bit and closed the gap. She brushed the wood with her fingertips and felt the warm tingle of magic within it. What if nothing lay behind that door? She snatched her fingers away from the door as if they were burnt. What did she have to lose? Two people were not a whole world. The harsh colour of the Destiny Islands suited her less and less every day. As she thought dark things her heart of light dimmed just a little bit, became a little smaller but never went out or absorbed a piece of the abyss of darkness. She was a Princess. That would never happen. Her power waned and so did her happiness. She put her hand against the door again and pushed it.

The door swung open easily and a freezing cold draught blew in. She shivered and hugged herself around her sketchbook and pencil tin. Beyond this door was a tunnel made of cobblestones, paving the way to a light at the end of a frosty road. She stepped into the tunnel, making her way towards the light. Her footsteps echoed. As she approached the end of the tunnel buildings could be seen just outside it and snowflakes were being blown in and around her. She gawked at it, amazed. On the Destiny Islands snow was only ever seen on the southernmost island on top of the highest mountain in the world for a couple of weeks at a certain time of the year. But here it was falling on the road. She finally emerged from the tunnel and was able to gaze in full wonder at the surroundings.

It was a city (that much she could tell) but unlike the modern engineering that was prevalent throughout the Destiny Islands, these buildings were old like they had been built three hundred years ago at the very earliest or a century ago at the latest. The streetlamps were tall and black and the candles inside them glowed like fireflies in a jar. There was snow piled up on the pavement after it had all been scraped off the road. Its whiteness entranced her, as well as the fact that it was _just there_. She had never seen a whole pile of snow on the ground before and reached out to take a handful.

A pair of bright lights shone upon her, catching her attention. She turned back to the tunnel and gasped in horror as a large vehicle drove towards her. At that speed and proximity it would never stop in time. Its horn blared at her. Kairi threw herself off the road and into the piles of snow. The vehicle drove past on its course, unhindered. It turned the corner and its tyres squealed as it slid on the icy road.

Kairi stood up, shaking the snow off her body. She was wet and even colder now. Her body shook and goosebumps rose on her arms, shoulders, back, and legs. Her sketchbook was wet and the colours were running. She could barely move due to the cold, it was as if her joints had all frozen up and her muscles tensed. So she just stood there on the edge of the gutter hugging herself and shivering.

"Oh no! Miss, are you okay?"

Kairi looked around, jerking her head here and there. Finally, from across the road she spotted the person calling to her as they ran over to her. It looked like a mouse with very round ears and very large feet. It was wearing very plain clothes with a brown, hooded cloak that was tattered as though it had seen too many winters and had been long outworn.

"Gosh, you look awful cold there, Miss," the mouse said, extending a hand clothed in a white glove. "We should get you somewhere where you can warm up."

"Um... th-th-thank-you," Kairi replied, teeth chattering unhelpfully.

The strange little mouse led Kairi to a large castle. It was cold and snowy and the sky was dark. The wind picked up and sent snowflakes soaring and spinning as if a storm was brewing. The leaves of bushes and trees had long gone with the autumn and the fountain in the middle of the courtyard wasn't functioning in the cold. Kairi shivered violently, gazing at the soft orange and yellow glow from the windows. The castle with its white walls and blue roof looked as though it would be so very warm and cosy inside.

"C'mon, keep going. I know you're cold, but it's just a little farther," the mouse urged her, pulling her by the wrist up the icy paved road to the castle, past evergreen bushes and trees caked with snow and the leafless skeleton trees.

They came up to the enormous wooden doors and the mouse finally put down his hood. Kairi blinked, seeing his face in its full glory. She could have sworn she had seen that mouse before somewhere. He knocked on the door. It opened just a crack. Kairi gasped at what she saw. The person who answered the door was a large animal with a small head but a large snout and two protruding white teeth. Its body was a mousy grey colour with rose pink ears and it was also quite fat.

"Who goes there?" the large animal at the door said. Its meek and goofy-sounding voice hardly suited its enormous stocky body. The guard looked down at the mouse and gasped. "Oh, it's you! Well, come in, come in, the king will be happy to see you back."

The large door was pulled open slowly by the guard. Kairi felt a little sorry for it; it must take quite an effort to move a door that large by oneself. She knew she would never be able to do it.

"Welp," the mouse said with a smile, "ladies first."

Kairi blushed and smiled. She walked into the castle only to be stopped by the large animal putting a hand with stubby fingers out in front of her. "And where do you think you're going, missy?"

"Wait, wait!" the mouse exclaimed, jumping out in front of Kairi. "She's a guest of the King."

The guard spluttered. "Oh, dear... well, um, please do pardon me. Uh, I wasn't sure- I didn't know- uhm, sorry! Please step this way."

The guard moved out of the way and saluted as the mouse and Kairi walked past. As she moved past this strange animal Kairi couldn't help but ask:

"So... what are you exactly?"

"Who me? I'm Harry Hippo, at your service, Madame."

"A hippo?"

Kairi had never heard of such a thing before, although something in the back of her mind kept telling her that she had. She thanked the guard for his kind words and turned to catch up with the mouse. Meanwhile, Harry pushed the door closed.


	4. The Pink Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guest rooms in Disney Castle are... nice?

The strange mouse led Kairi through many bright halls lit by white electric lights and with mirrors on the walls and chandeliers on the ceiling to maximise the light without too many bulbs. All of the heavy curtains were drawn shut to keep the cold out as much as possible. Eventually they came to a pink door with a heart emblazoned across the tall double doors. It was in a corridor with other such similar doors in different colours bearing different shapes.

"It may not be a fairy tale tower or anything," the mouse said, opening the doors for her, "but I think it's a lot warmer in here than it is in any of the towers."

"You're so kind to let me in here," Kairi said, "But are you sure you can do this? I don't even know who you are."

"Really? You don't recognise me?"

Kairi blinked. Had she met the mouse before? He did seem familiar to her...

"Gosh... well, I'll admit I didn't recognise you right away when I saw you in the snow. I'm Mickey Mouse; I'm a pal of your friend Riku."

The name rang a bell and Kairi remembered being briefly visited by a mouse, a dog and a duck on the small play island, as well as a flashback to that final battle on top of the Castle That Never Was. "Oh! You're _that_ mouse! Doesn't Riku usually refer to you as 'The King'?"

"Aw, well, that's because I am," Mickey replied. "I'm the king of Disney Castle and the little Disney Town beside it."

"Wait a minute…" Kairi said, creasing her brow. "Then why were you acting as though you were _not_ the king in front of the hippo?"

Mickey laughed nervously. "Ah, well, ya see, you get a bit cooped up when you're the king. Everyone's trying to protect you – I suppose they feel they should and all – but once in a while a guy likes to get out and about on his own. Y'know?"

"Um… sorta…" Kairi said, scratching a spot behind her ear. She thought back on her own life, trying to understand where Mickey was coming from. She thought she'd always been out and about on her own but then there was Sora and Riku. Had they been protecting her? Recently it felt like they had been protecting her a lot and it made her wonder if it had always been like that.

"So, I pretend to be a pauper but at the same time I informed all of the guards that this pauper was a good friend of the king. That way, I could come and go as I please dressed in these rags."

"Oh! That's really clever," Kairi remarked, genuinely impressed.

"Aw, shucks, don't mention it," Mickey replied, waving her off modestly. "Anyway, you just get yourself warmed up and we'll find ya some dry clothes and all that. And I'd better get back to doing my proper duties as the king."

Kairi thanked him and gave a small wave as he turned to hurry down the hall to wherever it was that he did his job. She stepped into the room and closed the lovely doors behind her. The room was decorated with the theme of hearts and the colour pink in mind and the level of detail was astounding. The four sets of heavy, pale pink curtains were closed and around the room on each wall was a white light with a heart-shaped lightshade. On the ceiling was a chandelier on which all of the crystals were heart-shaped. In the middle of the room, on top of a round pink and white rug, was a four-poster double bed with pink curtains, a pink bedcover and several pink pillows framed with white lace (including a heart-shaped bolster). There was a pink-painted desk and a chair with a heart-shaped back on the left wall with a set of wall shelves above it and a small bookshelf containing some light reading beside it. On the right wall there was a vanity with a cushioned stool and a heart-shaped mirror, a wardrobe crowned with an ornamental heart-shaped carving and between them was a single white and pink door, to match the wallpaper. Kairi just stood in front of the door gazing in awe at the lavish room. Never in her memory had she had a room like this and it wasn't a terrible room either, since she liked the colour pink and she liked hearts so logically there was nothing to complain about.

Kairi hadn't had the courage to take another step into the room, so when someone entered through the doors she was knocked over.

"Oh dear! Oh Heavens! I didn't see you there!" said the woman who had just marched in. She took Kairi by the hand and helped her up. "There, there, now. Oh! Look at you! You're filthy and wet and your hands are so cold."

Kairi looked at the woman who helped her and couldn't help gaping. She was a tabby cat that was as tall as Kairi and standing on her hind legs. She must have been a maid, dressed in a long blue dress with an apron over the front and a white cap on her head. Kairi was still in shock over the fact that she was a cat.

"Who are you?" Kairi blurted out.

"I'm just the chambermaid, sweetie."

"No, I mean, yes, I wanted to know that but what's your name?"

"Oh, yes, how rude of me," the chambermaid giggled. "I get all caught up sometimes. I'm Tabitha and if you don't mind, I'm usually just the chambermaid of this room but King Mickey has assigned me as your handmaid and has instructed me to make sure that our esteemed guest has everything she needs. And right now it looks like you need some fresh clothes and a nice, hot bath."

"You know, that does sound pretty nice right now," Kairi agreed.

"I'll get the water running," Tabitha said, trotting over to the white door and opening it. Kairi followed her a bit more slowly.

The room was a bathroom, also decorated in pink. There was a pink bathtub and a pink sink and a wooden stool (not pink) with a basket on top. The window above the bathtub was obscured by the little pink curtains and lace and there were two hot pink, heart-shaped bathmats. The towels on the towel rack were fresh and white, with necessary spare linen folded on a shelf high above the rack. There was a cupboard under the sink and mirror above the sink, all of the taps had pink heart-shaped handles and there was a pink chest of drawers in one corner. The tiles and the shower curtain were a lighter pink than everything else and the showerhead arched over the bathtub.

Tabitha bustled around, checking the progress of the bath and the water temperature, making sure that there was toothpaste and shampoo and conditioner and soap, and checking the drawers for some fresh underwear and a nightgown for Kairi. She put the clean articles of clothing on the stool and removed the basket to sit it on the floor.

"Let me take those for you," said Tabitha, turning off taps and taking Kairi's sketchbook and pencil tin, "and when you're ready, dear, just hop in and leave your soggy clothes in the basket."

The cat left the bathroom, giving Kairi the privacy she needed to get undressed, putting her clothes, shoes and all, in the provided basket. She dipped her toes in the bathwater experimentally, finding it to be hot but not scalding, which was just what she needed after being out in the cold. She stepped into the bathtub and suddenly Tabitha burst back into the bathroom. Kairi squeaked and ducked straight into the water, not expecting the invasion. Tabitha picked up the basket by the handles and then hurried out again, shutting the door. Kairi sat deep in the tub, eyeing the door for a few minutes. Then, deciding that Tabitha definitely wasn't going to come back, she reached for a washcloth and began to scrub.

* * *

Kairi emerged from the bathroom much later, after enjoying the hot water for as long as it would stay hot. She couldn't find a hairdryer while she was brushing her teeth, so she had to vigorously towel-dry her locks. While getting dressed Kairi had thought that Tabitha might have given her too much to wear – it looked as though she'd given Kairi a set of pyjamas and a nightgown (mistaking a pair of bloomers and frilly chemise for pyjamas). However, since it _was_ very cold, she decided to wear them both anyway along with a thick, warm pair of bed socks.

Kairi settled down on the stool in front of the vanity to comb her hair out and let it dry before she went to bed. She looked at her reflection, now clean and warm and rosy-cheeked. She somehow looked more at home here in this luxurious room than she could ever say she did on the islands. She looked like she was made for these surroundings, these colours, even this weather.

She combed the last of her tresses nice and smooth and set the comb down. She missed Sora and Riku already. Rather than bring herself to tears, she got up to see where Tabitha had put her sketchbook and pencils. They were laid on her desk and hadn't been rifled through. The pencils were alright – kept dry by their tin – but the sketchbook was already corrugated and the pages were all stuck together. Kairi sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to draw in this book again, so she threw in the waste paper basket under the desk. She ran a hand through her hair, feeling that it was now dry, and started to look around for light switches so that she could go to bed.

Maybe, she thought, she could ask Mickey tomorrow about the possibility of returning to her world.


	5. The Romantic Instinct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi goes down to breakfast, unaware that life in the Disney World is always a show.

"Rise and shine, dear!"

Kairi screwed her eyes shut when all of a sudden it became bright. Tabitha was already in her room, opening all of the curtains and letting in the sunlight. Kairi yawned, pushing the covers aside to stretch but pulled back to rub her arms. It was still so cold despite the sunny morning sky outside and Kairi wondered how this could be so, even though somewhere in the back of her mind she knew.

"Looks like the worst of the snowstorms have moved on for now," Tabitha commented, coming over to Kairi's bed and pulling the rest of the covers back as Kairi rubbed her eyes. "How was your night? Did you sleep well? I do hope it was warm enough."

"It was fine," Kairi replied. Tabitha moved out of the way so that Kairi could swing her legs out of bed. All of a sudden, Kairi thought of something. She didn't know why she'd suddenly thought of it or exactly what it meant, she just did. She looked at Tabitha. "Um… I don't want to sound silly or something…"

"Is there something you need? Just ask away."

"I was just thinking… is it winter?"

Tabitha blinked and cocked her head to the side. Kairi pulled on her hair nervously. "Winter?" Tabitha said. "Of course it's winter. Just look how much it's been snowing."

"Oh…" Kairi muttered, standing up abruptly. "I see then…"

"It's alright, dear. I suppose things have been happening all too fast for you," Tabitha said understandingly. "I've prepared the bathroom already so wash your face and then let's see about what you're going to wear today."

Kairi dragged herself to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth and when she returned Tabitha was already rifling through the cupboard. When the cat noticed Kairi come out, she grabbed the girl by the wrist and led her over to the cupboard, holding one door wide open so that Kairi could see herself in the full-length mirror.

"I brought these in for you this morning. Which would you fancy now?"

Kairi looked up and down the colourful row of dresses in the cupboard. All of them were long and frilly and required a petticoat or two (or three) and were not to her fancy at all. Then again, if she were to wear her usual attire from the islands, she would probably freeze to death. "Um… the blue one?" Kairi replied unsurely, referring to the light blue dress in the middle.

"Are you sure? It's a bit warmer today; wouldn't you like something a bit lighter?"

"Um, okay… er…" Kairi stammered. All of a sudden a dress at the very end caught her eye and made her think quite longingly of Selphie, which was odd because she never thought longingly of anyone aside from Sora and Riku. "The… the yellow one then."

"Which one?"

"The one at the end."

Tabitha nodded and took the dress Kairi had asked for – hanger and all – down from the rack and hung it on a hook on the inside of the cupboard door. It was a sunny yellow, the same colour as the little dress Selphie usually wore. It was long but didn't go all the way down to the feet and the bodice laced up at the back. It was high-collared and trimmed with patterned, white lace and made of beautiful shiny satin that rustled when it was moved. Kairi had had her attention so focused on her dress that she hadn't noticed what Tabitha had been up to until the chambermaid was suddenly tapping Kairi on the shoulder and asking her to take off her nightwear. She nodded, pulling off the nightgown first. Suddenly she stopped.

"Um… Tabitha… is there any underwear for me?" Kairi asked tentatively, fidgeting with the hem of the singlet.

"What are you talking about? You're wearing it already."

Kairi's eyes widened and she looked at herself. She didn't have any underpants or a brassiere.

"Now stop fussing around and get out of those bed socks," Tabitha commanded, handing Kairi a pair of white knee-high socks with lace on the hem. "Put those on and tuck in your singlet."

Kairi did as instructed, putting on the new pair of socks and tucking in her singlet, wondering exactly what she was doing.

"Now, turn around, dear and we'll put the corset on."

"The corset?" Kairi repeated. _"What's a corset?"_ she thought, but she decided that she wasn't going to ask any more stupid questions. Tabitha pushed Kairi's arms up above her head and slid the corset onto her waist. Little did Kairi know what was about to happen.

"Now, suck in your tummy."

"Suck in my tummy? Why?" Kairi asked. She took a big breath that was quickly knocked out of her when Tabitha pulled the drawstring tight. She tried to scream but all that she could manage with what little air she had was a low, pained moan.

"It'll only hurt for a moment. You'll feel better once we're all finished." Somehow, Kairi couldn't find it in herself to take Tabitha's word for it and it appeared that she was right to do so.

* * *

After putting on the dress and a pair of white high-heeled boots Tabitha shepherded Kairi out of her room and started leading her through the many castle hallways. The cat chattered gaily while Kairi gasped through her tight corset and stumbled to keep up with the pace Tabitha had set, almost tripping on a set of stairs. Tabitha did her best to keep Kairi informed of the things that would be happening now that Kairi was in the castle.

"First, your presence is required at the breakfast table, which I believe has already been set by now, and then after that I have a lot of chores to do so I'm afraid I will have to leave you for the day. I've already told Mark Mocking of you and that you required a guided tour around this castle and he made arrangements to free up his day in order to show you around. And remember – this is of utmost importance – if you so wish to go outside, you must put on a coat, scarf, hat and gloves otherwise you will catch a cold."

"Um, actually," Kairi said, feeling her stomach drop with dread when she saw the next approaching staircase, "I was hoping I could see the king today and talk with him-"

"See the king? Oh, that won't be possible today. The king is very busy, you know. He has to govern the world. But when he does free some time for himself, I'm sure he would be happy to spend some time with his guest."

"Isn't he at breakfast?"

"King Mickey and Queen Minnie like to eat early and work on the most urgent topics in the mornings. That way, they're less urgent than if they were left until the afternoon."

"O-okay," Kairi replied, tripping and stumbling down four steps before catching herself on the banister. Tabitha's comment almost made sense to her.

Tabitha showed Kairi to a set of double doors. "This is the dining hall, dear. I do hope you enjoy your meal."

"You…" Kairi gasped, leaning on her knees and taking breaths as deep as she could take them. "You're not… not co-coming… to breakfast?"

"Oh no, I also eat early. I have to otherwise I wouldn't get my work done in time." Tabitha opened one door and ushered Kairi inside. "I'll see you later this evening, dear. Have a good day."

The door closed and Kairi was left standing in the dining room. She looked around. There were four other entrances to the dining room through which others came. It was set out formally; everything from the cutlery to the glasses was polished and placed perfectly. Kairi already felt uncomfortable in this place. It was so large. She was used to sitting at the small dinner table that was just herself and the mayor and his wife sharing a simple dinner as a little family… until recently when it was just her and the mayor.

"Gawrsh! Is that you, Kairi?"

Kairi turned to the sudden voices. Two dogs and two ducks had just come in through a side entrance to the dining room and were looking at her. One of the dogs was half dressed in his suit of armour while the other dog was dressed haphazardly like he just been dragged out of bed and wasn't planning to go anywhere else. One duck was dressed in a magician's outfit and the other was dressed in a long blue dress and had a simple tiara placed on her brow.

"It is Kairi," the magician duck quacked. He was so incomprehensible that Kairi had to think to understand what he was even saying. She froze when the party of four bipedal animals came closer to her.

"It's been a while," said the dog in the armour.

"Um…" Kairi stammered. She did remember those two. They had come to visit Sora on the islands after the last journey but she couldn't remember their names.

"Aw, don't tell me you forgot us already," the dog said, still with a big smile on his face. "I'm Goofy. And this is my son Max." Goofy turned to the dog beside him. "Max, this is a good friend of my pal Sora."

Kairi shifted when she realised that Max was staring at her with a lowered eyebrow, like he was confused.

"Really?" he said eventually. He held out his hand for her to shake. She took it. "Well, nice to meet ya. You're friends with Sora? And he's your age?"

"Yep," Kairi said with a nod. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No… I just thought that Sora would be closer to my dad's age."

Kairi couldn't help letting a smile loose and giggled. Max took that as a good sign and smiled nervously in return.

"I'm Donald," the magician duck began, "and this is-"

"My name's Daisy," his partner cut in. "It's so nice to meet such a lovely girl like you. So, tell me, exactly what is your relationship with Sora?"

She put her hands on her hips and eyed Kairi expectantly. Kairi raised an eyebrow unsure of what Daisy was insinuating. "Well, we're best friends… but I think we might have become more than that… although I'm not sure."

"Well that won't do!" Daisy snapped. "Beating around the bush is no way to get a man, honey."

Kairi stared at her dumbly and she sighed. "Sweetheart, you obviously weren't born with the romantic instinct, huh? Come on, sit down and I'll give you a few pointers." Daisy dragged Kairi over to the breakfast table and forced her to sit on one of the cushy chairs. The other animals that had all filed in took their seats as well. Four maids burst through one of the doors, two pushing trolleys and the other two each carrying a white towel.

"There's a romantic instinct?" Kairi said quizzically.

"Of course! Now listen carefully, I have to fill you in on all of the things you're clearly not knowledgeable in:

_"When a woman loves a man_   
_There's an attraction indeed._   
_And she knows how to deal with it,_   
_She should know, at least._   
_But at times, you'll find,_   
_There is a missing piece,_   
_Not in her love, or in her mettle_   
_In her head."_

"Are you calling me stupid!" Kairi snapped. She was about to stand up and challenge Daisy but a maid reached between them and gave her a smile.

"G'mornin', ma'am," said the furry maid, wiggling her little pink nose. "Coffee or tea?"

"Er… juice?" Kairi replied. The maid nodded and got a jug of orange juice to pour into Kairi's glass while Daisy simply picked up where she left off.

_"And that's where you don't see_   
_What you don't quite understand_   
_You should be, I should think,_   
_At least quite certain of the things_   
_That you feel for that one person_   
_And that you want to say to them_   
_You need to map them out, arrange them_   
_In your head._

_"It's your heart's translation._   
_That's the start, that is the seed._   
_After that it's time to begin_   
_The measures that you need."_

Kairi put a hand over her heart and mulled that lyric over. "The 'heart's translation', hm… this is weird. What are you even talking about? What do you want me to do?"

Daisy tutted and shook her head. Donald shrugged, leaning over to whisper to Kairi, "Don't worry, I'm not sure what she's talking about either."

"Well I wasn't talking to you," the lady duck retorted. "But anyway, Kairi:

_"You can't do much until you know_   
_Just how your heart is feeling._   
_If you get it wrong you'll make_   
_Some wounds that won't be healing._   
_Turn your feelings into thoughts_   
_It's not that hard, don't think a lot_   
_Open your heart into your mind_   
_And find out what you've got."_

"That's not all real knowledge, you just fluffed up one single point," Max pointed out: "the point that she just has to figure out how she feels about a guy before she makes a move."

"I think my way of saying it was better," Daisy huffed.

"Then I've already stuffed that up," Kairi muttered sadly, looking into her lap. "But I thought I knew how I felt, it's just that… I don't know."

"Do you think maybe _he_ didn't know how _he_ felt?" Max asked.

"I don't know what he felt for me, at least not for certain," Kairi confessed. "But what should I _do_?"

"I don't know," Max said. "Maybe… try going out with other guys and see if you feel any differently about them?"

"Max!" Daisy exclaimed in shock-horror. Kairi whipped her head around to face him wide-eyed.

"What? I'm just making a suggestion that I thought would work."

"Then stop making suggestions!"

"Max is kind of right, you know," Kairi admitted. "You aren't really helping me."

"Well then we're even," Daisy said. "Because you're not really helping me either; your utter cluelessness is what's making this so hard."

"You can't just prattle on about something really vague and expect me to know exactly what you're talking about!"

"Now that's where you're wrong," Daisy tutted, waving her feathered finger. She picked up a silver spoon and Kairi held back a groan because she could tell that Daisy was intent on continuing this musical performance:

_"I should think it clear since_   
_We are alike of kind,_   
_There's an equivocal language_   
_That you'll find!"_

_"But it's the character of a lady,"_ sang one of the passing maids.  
 _"To decipher what is hazy."_

_"And I think this sounds crazy,"_ Max droned.

_"But the heart is something mazy,"_ Daisy crooned.  
 _You should see the way, clear as day,_  
 _In your head._  
 _Enough! Said!"_

Daisy leaned over and tapped Kairi on the nose with the spoon. It didn't really hurt but Kairi covered her face anyway and held her nose. Daisy just nodded and put the spoon down and then turned Kairi's chin so that the girl was facing her.

"I can tell that you've been trying to do a lot of feeling with your head recently," she said wisely, which shocked Kairi a little. "Emotions are not something that can be reasoned with, dear. When you find yourself able to trust them a little better, I'm sure that's when you'll find your own romantic instinct." She sat up straight in her own chair and picked up her fork to nibble daintily at the breakfast fruit on her plate. Kairi stared at her food and sank lower in her chair.


	6. Walking on Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi takes a walk around the castle grounds and meets a boy who's going to change her life for good.

After breakfast, being assured several times over that King Mickey would be too busy to see her, Kairi left the dining hall in a sad huff. She felt like taking a walk so she hurried back to her room to find the items Tabitha had advised her to take outside. She found a long white coat with matching woolly gloves, a scarf and a white beret and found her own way back down to the foyer. The hippo that had been standing guard the night before was now replaced with another animal. It was the same colour and roughly the same shape but with a pointed snout and a horn protruding out of its nose. Kairi put on the warm clothing as she made her way to the door but stopped abruptly when she heard a sharp bark. She turned around. A lanky dog bounded towards her and skidded to a stop at her feet. His ears perked up, tongue hanging out and he was wearing his own green scarf and a beanie. Kairi's eyes lit up.

"It's you!" she exclaimed, leaning on her knees and looking down at the dog affectionately. She didn't know his name but he had been so friendly towards her and guided her. She wondered what he was doing here. Noticing something shiny under the scarf, Kairi lifted the wool just a little bit. The name tag she uncovered read: 'Pluto'.

The dog barked again, looking between her and the door. Kairi giggled.

"I see, you want to go for a walk," she said. "Maybe we should walk together?"

Pluto seemed to understand this and jumped around excitedly, making Kairi laugh again. "Okay, okay, calm down now. We can go for a walk."

She stood up, gesturing for the dog to follow her. Surely he must have had a leash but for now she couldn't be bothered running around the large castle looking for it. They both ambled up to the door. The grey animal opened the door for them, allowing them to leave the castle. Kairi looked at the animal and put a hand to her chin.

"Oh, I'm allowed to leave the castle?"

"Guests of the King are given right of way through these doorways," the animal replied. His expression was fiercer than Harry's and his clipped tone had a no-nonsense air to it.

"Thank-you, then," Kairi replied. "What happened to the hippo?"

"It is now my shift at the door, madam. Please be on your way, holding the door open lets the cold in."

"Oh, right," Kairi grinned sheepishly and ducked out of the doorway, letting the new guard close it.

Outside it was snowing lightly. Kairi shivered, feeling cold even though she was weighed down with so many layers of clothing. Pluto bounded ahead of her. The roads and paths inside the castle gardens that had been scraped clean early that morning were already beginning to be covered with new snow. Kairi marvelled at it, having never seen it personally until the previous night. She took off one glove to pick up a handful and laughed. It felt like taking a handful of shaved ice, not the fluffy cotton-like texture she imagined this fresh layer would have. Fancy that! Pluto cocked his head to the side, watching Kairi's expressions as she played with the snow, picking up more until she had patted together a great big ball. She put it down and stared at it for a moment, not knowing what she was going to do with it, until Pluto suddenly tackled it. It crumbled to pieces and Kairi laughed, clapping her hands as she did. Pluto seemed to be smiling. He jumped around, barking some more.

"You seem pretty excited. Is there somewhere you want to go?"

Pluto lifted his ears and cocked his head to the side. The gates were locked so Kairi turned to the gardens. She walked steadily through the garden paths that wound around beds and lawns with Pluto jumping and trotting around her and stopping every now and then to sniff at a stick poking out of the snow or chase a small animal that poked its head out every now and again. The pine leaves stood firm against the cold and every time the wind blew – even just a slight breeze – their branches shivered. All of the other naked trees looked grey, bleak and dead. Kairi wondered if there was ever any chance of those skeletons coming back to life. She had never seen such a lack of colour in the world before. The sky was grey and the ground was white. The blue roof of the castle had been completely covered up with snow. Even she was little more than a ghost in the gardens – all dressed in white with pale, white skin and the only beacon of her actual existence being her blood-red hair.

Then, out of the pure whiteness, she came across a tall white gazebo with a roof that was also thickly caked with snow. It was in a part of the gardens located behind the castle in the middle of a large patio with precise geometric plant beds and a large, rectangular pool with a fountain. The fountain featured mermaids and fish spitting water in high arcs while the mermaids held up a large bowl with three turtles that spat water straight into the sky. Or they would be if the fountain was functioning. It simply sat in the middle of the pool, weighed down with the snow that was currently covering it. However, curiously to a person like Kairi, the pool wasn't empty. It was covered with ice. Kairi leaned over the edge of the pool to get a closer look and touch it. It was firm and unyielding; she thought she might even be able to stand on it. She climbed onto the stone edge of the pool and put one foot on the ice, testing it against her weight. It stayed firm so she stepped with her other foot apprehensively, fearing that perhaps the ice would break at this inopportune moment. But it didn't.

Kairi took a breath to calm her nerves and racing heart but she'd done it. Still amazed by this new thing she decided to test its limits (and the limits of her own courage) even further by taking another step, holding her arms out to balance herself, feeling that she needed it. She couldn't help grinning. She was walking on a sheet of ice; this was basically the closest she'd ever been to walking on water. Feeling better about this new experience, she took a more vigorous step and slipped.

She'd put her arms up to break her fall and discovered just how hard the ice really was. The aching pain in her elbow was familiar - it would bruise. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, or at least tried to. Her hands slid against the surface. Getting to her feet was even harder. They slipped out from underneath her no matter what awkward pose she tried to keep her balance. Eventually she stopped trying. She sat on her bottom on the ice and looked over to the edge where she'd come from. It seemed so far away right now, even though it was only about a metre and a half. She sighed, considering for a moment that she might have to crawl back to the edge. And Pluto had gone missing, although she hadn't really been watching him in the first place. It was doubtful that a dog could be of much help but right now she was prepared to take anything she could get. 

"Do you need some help?"

Kairi let out a startled gasp. She thought she was alone in the gardens aside from the animals. She turned around and looked up. Standing behind her and looking down was a boy, roughly a couple of years older than her, who was just as pale as she was. He was wearing black woollen trousers, a black coat and a chequered scarf. He had dark blue eyes and silver hair with the front part brushed over one side of his face. Kairi couldn't speak at first. Then she gulped and finally said:

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," said the boy.

Kairi's face got hotter and she thought that she might even cry. "Well… yeah, I need some help," she admitted, swallowing pride down. The boy didn't reply but picked her up under the arms and lifted her to a standing position. He didn't let go until she was stable enough to stand on her own. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it, I only wanted to help," he replied. Kairi looked into his eyes (or at least the one she could see), finding them expressionless.

"I must look like an idiot," she muttered. "You don't seem to be having any trouble." She looked down and noticed that his boots had thin blades on the soles. She must have been gawking because he turned his foot out and tilted it slightly so that she could get a better look at them.

"It's for skating."

Kairi looked back up at him. "Skating? Really? Isn't skating done with wheels, though?"

"It's called ice skating," the boy elaborated and skated around her as a demonstration.

Kairi's jaw dropped, noting how he seemed to glide and wondering how it was even possible to stand up on something so thin. As she turned around to follow his feet with her eyes she slipped again and this time wasn't fast enough to catch herself. She rolled onto her back, holding her hands over her aching face. The boy didn't say anything, he didn't even laugh. He just leaned down and picked her up again. She didn't dare remove her hands from her face, lest he see how red she was getting.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice muffled by her hands.

"Why are you sorry? There's no need to apologise." He gently took hold of her wrists and pulled her hands away. Even though he was still stoic his sincerity, along with the fact that he didn't laugh at her when she fell, put her at ease.

"I feel there is a need, though," Kairi answered. "I got myself into this mess and now you're the one stuck helping me out."

"I'm not stuck helping you out; I can leave whenever I feel like it," he said pointedly. "I told you, I _want_ to help. You should get off the ice before something else happens."

Kairi nodded. "But what if I fall again?"

The boy held out a hand. "Here… I'll help you."

He took one of Kairi's hands and put the other arm around her shoulders. He skated slowly next to her while she took tentative steps back to the edge of the pool, slipping frequently but it didn't deter him. Once her feet were back on solid concrete he let her go and she jumped back down to the ground, taking a sigh of relief.

"Thank-you, really," Kairi said, turning back to him. "I appreciate your help. My name is Kairi, by the way."

"You're welcome, Kairi," the boy said, giving a short bow.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. "Um… would you mind telling me your name?" Kairi asked.

"My name…" the boy trailed off, looking to the veranda and the great doors and windows of the castle. He turned back to Kairi. "Just call me Z."

"Z? That's not a real name, is it? I want you to tell me-"

"Miss Kairi! Miss Kairi!"

Kairi's head whipped around. A little brown bird wearing a vest, a tailcoat and a pair of gaiters fluttered around the patio, looking for her with Pluto coming just behind it. The dog saw her and barked happily, running straight up to her. The bird turned around and made a beeline to where she stood.

"Miss Kairi! I've been searching all over for you," said the bird, perching on the edge of the pool to catch his breath. "Didn't we make an arrangement to meet at the dining hall?"

"Er… we did…" Kairi said, just remembering it now. "I guess you're Mark Mocking, then? I'm sorry I ditched you. I just wanted to do a bit of exploring on my own."

"Oh that's fine, that's fine, I just don't want you to get lost in the castle," Mark Mocking said cheerily. "Would you like me to show you around, then?"

"That would be good."

Kairi reached over to give Pluto a pat but he was preoccupied, sniffing the ice on the pool. He growled, startling her.

"Is there something wrong, Pluto?" Z had been standing at the spot Pluto was now investigating but he'd disappeared. She looked around at the white surroundings. Surely someone dressed in black couldn't disappear that easily in such a white landscape no matter how fast they were.

Mark just chuckled. "I think Pluto's just getting a bit old." Pluto whined in response to that. "He's been around for a while now – even I don't remember when he first arrived. However, if we're going to embark on this little tour thing we'll have to hop to it or we won't even have enough time to finish it. Not to mention that staying outside in this cold weather for too long, even all rugged up like that, is going to make you quite sick. Come along, come along."

Mark took flight again and Kairi followed him across the patio and up the steps of the veranda. She looked back as she did, wondering what had happened to Z and why Pluto was so unhappy to catch his scent. It didn't seem feasible to Kairi that he was a bad person. _At least I hope he's not,_ she thought.


	7. The Duchess of Envy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The castle is very big and Kairi feels rather small but it turns out that home isn't as far away as she thought it was.

The daylight had already begun to dwindle by four o'clock and Kairi could no longer concentrate on Mark Mocking's commentary of the castle's features. Her mind was occupied by sore feet and exhaustion. All she wanted to do was go back to her own room with some paper and do some drawing. She dawdled along behind Mark while he tweeted, pointing out the various comical portraits of esteemed animals trying to look serious in the long gallery, dragging her feet and feeling faint. Putting it down to mere tiredness she steeled herself to keep going, pretend to listen and lock herself away when she found the moment. Then all of a sudden her legs buckled.

* * *

A slow piano solo was playing when Kairi opened her eyes. She blinked, looking around the tasteful room. It was furnished with three sofas that each had only one arm and a regular armchair. The wallpaper was calming periwinkle blue and the small fireplace set into one of the walls was slowly burning down. Kairi sat up on the sofa she'd been laid across, wondering how she'd gotten there and why. A small knock on the door startled her and she turned to the small door in the corner. A shy-looking maid with long ears was looking in and entered when Kairi saw her.

"I jus' came in t' see 'ow ya were feelin', Ma'am," she said.

"Um… I think I'm okay… what happened?"

"Ya fainted."

"Oh…" Kairi rubbed her forehead. "Why?"

"Might be ya laces."

"Laces? I don't have any laces on my shoes… wait, are you talking about the corset?" Kairi asked, feeling the stiff structure beneath her dress. "Tabitha did them up for me."

The maid tutted. "She's a keen lacer, she is. She can do 'em up so tight I reckon if one made a corset small enough she'd make ya waist disappear completely. 'Ere, lemme loosen 'em for ya."

She shut the door behind her, checking to make sure there was no one in the hall outside and then shut the cream-coloured curtains tightly before helping Kairi get out of the dress and loosen up the corset. Kairi sighed with relief when some of the pressure fell away and she was able to take deeper breaths.

"Thank-you so much!" Kairi said while the maid retied the laces. "I can actually breathe now."

"Yer welcome, ma'am. Jus' so ya know now, dinner will be ready in a bit. D' ya need some 'elp findin' yer way 'round the castle?"

"I think I'll be fine. But again, thanks."

With a nod the maid left the room. Kairi let out a heavy sigh and plopped back down on the couch she'd been lying on. Even with the laces a little bit looser it was still uncomfortable to breathe through this horrible, horrible contraption. She was going to make a point of never wearing one again no matter who insisted.

The piano kept playing. Kairi closed her eyes and relaxed. It wasn't an amazing piece by any stretch – in fact, it was quite over-structured and repetitive to someone with a trained ear but Kairi didn't have a trained ear. Eventually Kairi stood up to investigate the source of the music. She stepped out into the hall and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach (or at least as far as the corset would let it go). This area was unfamiliar. Perhaps she hadn't been paying enough attention or Mark Mocking hadn't covered this part of the castle yet. The music was coming from a rectangular double door at the end of the hall, so that's where Kairi headed.

The room behind the door had a high ceiling and a balcony above the door. The floor was made of polished wood and one wall was almost completely made of tall windows with Gothic arch frames and round windows between the gaps of the window arches. Every other wall was lined with mirrors that had tall curtains falling over them. Most curtains were pulled open. In a corner close to the window were an upright piano and a gramophone. A bipedal hedgehog wearing a plain dress stood beside the gramophone smiling pleasantly at the little girl spinning around in the middle of the room. She was a black mouse wearing a leotard, pink stockings and a pair of stiff pink slippers. Kairi gaped in amazement at the little girl as she travelled from one corner of the room to the one opposite, spinning around and around and sometimes even walking on the very tips of her toes – a feat Kairi couldn't believe since it looked impossible.

The little girl made it to the other side of the room without much of a hitch. The hedgehog applauded her. "You dance beautifully," she commented.

The little mouse nodded, looking slightly solemn as she did, though. She looked up in surprise when Kairi suddenly started to applaud too.

"That was amazing!" Kairi gushed. "I've never seen anything like it before! How do you manage to walk on your tippy-toes like that?"

"You've never seen a ballet before?" the mouse asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's weird. And who are you, anyway? Why are you in the castle?"

"Manners, please," the hedgehog admonished her. "That's not the tone you use when talking to people."

"I'm Kairi. Sorry, I kind of crashed here late last night. I was out on the street and I didn't know how to get back home so The King invited me in."

"Oh, you poor dear, I do hope you're able to get home soon. In the meantime, it's a pleasure meeting you. My name is Mrs Mir Prickles and this is Princess Monica Mouse."

"You can just call me Monnie," said the little mouse.

"Princess? Really? Does that mean that you're King Mickey's daughter?" Kairi exclaimed.

"Obviously," Monnie said.

"Monica!" Mrs Prickles warned.

"Um, I think I might have interrupted," Kairi said. "I came here following some beautiful music I could hear. Please don't mind me."

"That's alright, dear, we were just about to finish," Mrs Prickles replied. "It's almost dinner time and the princess needs to be properly dressed. Let's go now, Monica."

Monica took off her dancing slippers and put on a pair of ordinary slippers and a simple dress to walk around the castle in. She led the way out of the tall room and Mrs Prickles followed her, nodding to Kairi on the way out.

"Again, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kairi. We'll be able to chat a bit more over the dinner table. I look forward to seeing you there."

Kairi nodded in response. "Okay, I'll see you there too," she replied a little awkwardly.

* * *

Dinner was very much the same affair as breakfast with the main topic of conversation being gossip about Mrs Such-And-Such going blind, reportedly (although not probably) because she read by candlelight so much, Mr Whoever who had just gotten new ponies to draw his carriage and Lady Something-Or-Other whose daughter was going to perform as Juliet in a ballet production about the famous play (Kairi actually had no idea what the famous play was but she would take everyone else's word that it was famous). All Kairi wanted to do was talk to Mickey again but he was seated so far away from her. For the time being she pretended that she cared even a little bit about Mr Whoever's ponies and made a cunning plan to corner the King after dinner.

Yet, she couldn't help noticing Monica's blatant disinterest in anything that happened, even though Minnie Mouse and Mrs Prickles tried to encourage her to behave sociably.

At the end of dinner Minnie gently led her daughter away by the shoulder, leaving the King by himself at the end of the table. Kairi was about to spring out of her chair right then but the lady sitting next to her – a lizard dressed in red – held her down.

"Excuse me! Don't you know it's rude to stand at the table before the head of the house without a pardon from the head?" the lizard chided.

"Um… sorry," Kairi muttered. She took a deep breath to call out to the King.

"My goodness!" exclaimed the white cat dressed in pink frills sitting on Kairi's other side. "It's extremely rude to shout across a table. Who taught you manners, young lady?"

"My guardian," Kairi answered truthfully, trying to look at both ladies and keep an eye on the King at the same time.

"Guardian? My dear, are you an orphan?" asked the lizard.

"More or less."

"Well that explains it," muttered the cat.

"Hey!" Kairi fumed, turning sharply to the cat. "I think my guardian brought me up well. I'm not a bad person just because I don't have parents."

"Orphans don't ever understand the sophisticated life of the aristocracy fully," the lizard explained. "You can train them to dance, sing, preen and converse but they never grasp the finer points of fine living."

"They're just not brought up that way," the cat agreed.

Kairi huffed. "Well maybe I wasn't brought up in such a high life but so what?"

"Shhh!" the lizard shushed. "Use your inside voice, dear."

"I am using…" Kairi began just as her gaze flickered back up to keep an eye on King Mickey but he was no longer at his chair. She looked over the backs of the chairs and saw him disappearing through one of the dining hall doors. "Oh, crap! King Mickey!"

The ladies covered their mouths and hearts in astonishment at her curse while Kairi struggled to push her chair out from under the table and stand up. The chair screeched when it hit the granite floor beneath the rug and fell right over with a heavy _clack_. Kairi scrambled to her feet. She ran out of the hall as fast as her heels could carry her. "Mickey Mouse! Wait!"

Mickey stopped at the foot of a staircase and turned around. Kairi was already a bit short of breath. "Hiya, Kairi. What's up?" he said cheerfully.

"Mickey… King Mickey," Kairi panted. "I wanted to talk to you… about going back to the Destiny Islands. There's a way to do it, right?"

"Of course! All you'd hafta do is get on a Gummi Ship and go."

"Wow… really, that's it?"

"That's it. Unfortunately, all of our passenger Gummi Ships are undergoing their routine servicing check-ups so they won't be available for at least the next three days."

"Three days," Kairi groaned.

"Oh, you've only been away for one day so far! Don't get so down. You'll be able to see Sora and Riku again soon."

"I don't want to have to wait, though," Kairi whined. "I want to be home right now."

"Just be patient. Everything will work out smoothly and once the Gummi Ships are cleared getting you back to the Destiny Islands will be a snap. I just hope it's not too cold for you around these parts."

"Don't worry, I'm fine… sorry for interrupting you."

"Aw, you weren't interrupting anything. Have a good night's sleep. I sent a letter to Sora so that he knows you're fine."

"Are you sure he'll get it?"

"I'm sure."

"Well, okay then. Goodnight, King Mickey."

Mickey nodded in response and went on his way while Kairi was now tasked with the daunting procedure of trying to remember how to get back to her own room.

* * *

Later that night Kairi awoke with a shiver. She pulled the quilt and blanket higher over her shoulders and the windows and curtains were firmly closed but the chill wouldn't go away. An ethereal breeze was blowing through her room. Unable to stand it any longer, Kairi pushed the covers back and immediately hugged herself. She didn't realise that the castle was that much colder at night. The unexplained wind was making it worse and she was afraid that she would never get to sleep if it continued so she slipped out of bed and into some fluffy slippers and then hurried over to the desk. Tabitha had given her a spare pink cardigan so that Kairi would have no chance of ever getting a chill, something which she was grateful for since it did get quite cold. She slipped on the cardigan and suddenly was struck with a thought. She turned on the small lamp on the desk.

Tabitha hadn't been able to get her another art book but she did fetch a few pieces of paper for Kairi to draw on. She'd spent the hours after dinner drawing but so far she'd only drawn one picture: the beach on the little island and Sora with his back turned to her so that he faced the sunset. She touched the edge of the picture where she hadn't sketched or coloured. She sighed. Now that she thought about it, Mickey was right. It was silly to miss him so much when she'd only been gone for about twenty-four hours.

The chilly wind blew again, stronger this time. Kairi pulled the cardigan tightly around her body. It bothered her enough to finally go and find out what was going on. When she stepped outside of her room a particularly violent chill ran up and down her entire body. It was somehow even colder out here than it was in her room, although the wind was blowing a lot stronger and more consistently in the hall. Yet she had the feeling that it wasn't real wind, mainly because she couldn't sense it blowing over her skin; it blew through her rather than around her. In fact, she wasn't even sure how she was able to feel it. She shut her door behind her and followed the direction of the wind's current. With all of the windows drawn shut the halls and corridors were plunged into a thick darkness that was only penetrated by a sliver of moonlight peeking under the curtains.

Eventually, Kairi wandered into an area that she was sure was familiar. She passed a room with an open door. In the dim glow of a dying fire there were three sofas and an armchair visible. Down the end of the hall was a set of double doors that was left slightly ajar. The cold wind was blowing in that direction. Kairi crept up to the doors and snuck into the room discretely.

The curtains were wide open, letting the dim moonbeams in. The cold wind picked up intensity in here, whirling so fast and so densely that it began to take an appearance of green streams. And in the middle of it all was a little mouse princess in ballet slippers prancing elegantly around the floor. With every sweep of her arms the wind turned. With each pirouette it twisted. She was already panting from the effort of dancing and her slippers were tearing at the points.

"Monica…?" Kairi whispered tentatively. She swallowed and tried to speak louder: "Monnie, what are you doing dancing this late at night?"

Monica ignored her; she had a very faraway look in her half-lidded eyes. Kairi stared, unsure what to think or what to do. Then all of a sudden the double doors behind her burst open and a flood of darkness crashed into the room like a giant wave, wrapping up Monica while she spun around on her toes. Kairi cried out to her but it would do no good now that the darkness had her. It condensed around Monica's body into the form of a tall spinning top. The wind had stopped and the darkness finally stopped spinning and revealed the form it had taken: a petite childlike creature with a wide, toothless, grinning mouth, large green claws for fingers, a flamboyant green tutu and nothing but a spiral of green energy where its legs should have been. But most striking of all were its glowing red eyes.

Kairi covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh! What happened to you, Monnie? Monnie?"

"Monnie isn't any more," said the creature, though it still had Monica's voice. "I'm Duchess. The Duchess of Envy."


	8. Help!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Unversed shows Kairi a thing or two about 'dancing'.

Kairi stared in horror at The Duchess. How could this have come about? Perhaps more importantly, what exactly was she? Even Kairi knew that Heartless were made distinct by their glowing yellow eyes but the angry red eyes meant a new thing altogether. Kairi gulped and gathered her courage as best she could, clenching her fists and glaring at The Duchess.

"You'd better bring Monnie back from wherever you put her," Kairi demanded, summoning her Keyblade and brandishing its flowery teeth at the creature. Even as she did this her voice cracked and her hands shook in fright. After all, she'd only used this thing once and under Riku's supervision on top of that. She hadn't had much practice as a fighter. All of a sudden she wished she'd had Selphie's pluck and vigour – the kind that had spurred that girl to fight the boys on the island as if she was one herself.

"Will you dance with me?" The Duchess asked.

"I won't ask you again," Kairi snapped, tightening her grip on the Keyblade's handle. "I will fight you if it comes to that."

"Very well, then, we'll dance."

It spread its arms out wide and began to twirl slowly, wobbling from side-to-side. Kairi charged forward with a yell, holding the Keyblade high above her head. She brought it down hard like an axe. The Duchess batted the blade away and reached out to swipe at Kairi with her claws. Kairi leaned back but her dull reflexes were of no use. The creature slashed her across the belly, leaving deep scratches. Kairi winced. She stumbled and fell, landing ungracefully on her backside.

The Duchess cackled. "You're a Keyblade Wielder, I see. Surely someone with such a magnificent privilege as wielding that wonderful weapon should be able to do better than this. I want it!"

Kairi tried to push herself to her feet but only got to her knees at first. The broken flesh burned and stung with an intensity of pain that she could only drown out with the force of her own screaming. With one huge burst of effort and energy, Kairi got back to her feet. Holding her injuries with one hand, she swiped at The Duchess with the Keyblade. It easily twirled out of the way and back around to grab Kairi by the hand holding her wounds. It yanked Kairi closer and forced her to do a few guided pirouettes. Kairi tripped over her own feet and the creature pulled her down by the hand, slamming her back against the wooden floor. Her head banged against the planks, making her see stars.

The Duchess pulled her up. Kairi tried to use this opportunity to get her footing and stab at the creature. She narrowly missed. The Duchess lifted Kairi over its head and then promptly dropped her on her face. She shed her tears freely at the ache and burn of her wounds.

"Why do you have the Keyblade? I would do anything to have something like that!"

"How would you be able to use it with that black heart of yours?" Kairi hissed.

"Black? My heart isn't black yet!" The Duchess barked, lashing out at Kairi with clawed hands. Kairi rolled over and dodged it by a hair.

Then, suddenly, the Keyblade vanished. In a mere puff of light and ethereal glitter it was gone. Kairi stared at where it had once been in astonishment. "Wh-what?" she muttered. Perhaps this was normal, that there was a time limit or something but it was still terribly inconvenient.

"What a pity! It seems the Keyblade agrees with me. You should never have been worthy of its might!" The Duchess shrieked. It lashed out again and Kairi rolled out of the way, pushing herself to her feet and running from the dance studio, bursting through the double doors. She had no idea where to go other than to turn random corners and follow random corridors in the hopes of losing it.

" _This can't be happening,"_ she wailed mentally. _"I had no idea just how weak I am."_

She took a deep breath as she ran and shouted into the darkness: "HELP! WE'RE IN TROUBLE!"

"Screaming won't do you any good, silly girl," The Duchess chided, chasing after her. It did one graceful spin with swirl of green magic surrounding it. With a flick of its wrist, the energy consolidated into thin threads stemming from the tips of its claws. With another flick, it whipped the strings onto a large stone statue of a distinguished ancestor of one of the aristocracy, standing proud with a large sword in hand. The statue's eyes glowed red and it suddenly became animated. It jumped up quickly and chased Kairi alongside The Duchess, taking long strides that thudded heavily on the floor. The dreadful vibrations filled Kairi's throat with a knot of fear.

She turned a corner and was yanked into a small alcove behind another large statue, this one of a former duchess. A leather gloved hand clamped over her mouth while the animated statue and The Duchess of Envy passed them by.

"Please, keep your voice down for now," someone whispered in her ear. It was definitely a man and Kairi's spine shivered. She was now in two situations that she didn't like at all.

"Silly little girl," The Duchess cooed. "Where are you? I know you're still around. I wish I had your pretty red hair. Why don't you be a kind young lady and let me tear it out!"

Kairi winced. So it was still in the corridor with her. She was starting to feel faint from loss of blood. It covered her hands and forearms and ran down her belly and legs, staining everything on its way.

"If your wounds keep bleeding like that you'll die soon. Drink this."

The hand removed itself from her mouth and another hand held a hi-potion in front of her. She took it eagerly and gulped it down quickly. The warm tingle of its magic filled her body and the scratches were sewed shut seamlessly. She breathed a sigh of relief now that the pain was gone and turned around to face whoever had just helped her but he had already disappeared. She put a hand on the stone statue where she thought he might have been.

Suddenly the statue moved under her touch. There was a crack and a boom as the statue ripped itself away from its podium and stepped onto the floor. It turned to face her, staring down its duck beak at her with glowing red eyes. Kairi knew she had to move but her wobbly legs wouldn't do a thing. The duchess statue slowly reached down to grab her. That's when Kairi was suddenly spurred to run. She made a dash to the left but it was already too late. The statue grabbed Kairi around the middle and lifted her into the air, kicking and screaming.

"I found you, didn't I?" The Duchess taunted. Green threads from its other hand were wrapped around the limbs of the duchess statue. "Now I can crush you."

"Why?" Kairi whimpered.

The Duchess cocked its head to the side. "Why? Because I can't stand you. You look like a princess more than I ever will."

"What? You're just jealous of how I look? That's stupid!"

The Duchess harrumphed and the duchess statue began to squeeze Kairi. She had no inhibitions about screaming her heart out under the intense pressure bearing down on her, bruising her body and constricting her breathing. She heard the first snap of a bone in her right arm breaking.

The pitter-patter of feet on the carpet reached her ears. She turned her head as much as she could. Several of the animals of the castle had awoken and scurried into the corridor. She recognised Donald Duck with his mage staff and Goofy wielding an ordinary candelabrum instead of a real weapon. They were both still wearing their nightgowns and nightcaps. Other curious people and castle guards in uniform crowded the end of the corridor. Donald squawked in alarm seeing the statue of his dear great-aunt and the former head of the knights walking freely.

"Blizzara!" Donald exclaimed, pointing his staff at the duchess's fist and freezing it to the core, stopping it from constricting Kairi any further.

"Donald! Be careful," Goofy said. "You might hurt Kairi."

There was movement in the crowd as someone small tried to make their way through with some exclamations of: "Excuse me! Pardon me, there. Step aside, please."

Stepping regally to the front of the group were Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, more prepared for what was to come than their subjects. Mickey had put on a magical red armour jacket and Minnie had covered herself with a white cardigan. Mickey summoned his Keyblade immediately when he saw the dark creature holding the statues captive.

"Unversed!" he shouted, knowing it immediately. "Why are they back?"

"Unversed?" Kairi muttered, unsure of what to make of that. But she put that to the back of her mind, since it looked like Mickey and his subjects were going to attack it, and yelled down to them: "Don't kill it! That's Monnie!"

"Monnie!" Minnie gasped, covering her mouth with her fingers. "Oh no, my baby! What happened?"

"The darkness did something to her and made her a monster," Kairi explained, "but maybe she can be turned back. So don't kill her."

The Duchess giggled. "Oh! More people who I envy! I wish I was the queen… or a powerful magician… or a strong knight in shining armour." It looked to Mickey and Minnie, Donald and then Goofy respectively. "I wonder, though, if you could keep up in a dance with me."

It raised its arms and waved its hands, spurring the two statues to life again. The duchess statue raised her unfrozen fist to throw a punch while the former knight charged with his sword ready for striking. Donald cast Stop on the duchess statue moments before the punch hit. Mickey Mouse demonstrated his excellent agility by climbing her arm and leaping from one to the other, striking the frozen wrist with deafening _clink!_ However, nothing happened.

"It'll stay that way until the spell wears off," Mickey explained, before dashing off at a break-neck pace to face The Duchess directly.

The former head of the guard sliced down upon Goofy, who picked up his candelabrum to block it but did a double-take when he realised at that moment that it was a candelabrum and not a shield. He managed to side-step the heavy blow narrowly. The stone sword cut the carpet and smashed a gash in the floor. Thinking quickly (or perhaps not really thinking at all, knowing Goofy), he wedged the blade of the sword between the arms of the candelabrum, twisted it into place and then with a great cry of "Alley-oop!" he winched the sword from the statue's hands and threw it over his head, snapping the arms of the candelabrum in the process.

"Support the captain!" one of the guards on duty barked and with a great battle cry of agreement all of the others charged down the corridor to take on the disarmed statue. They overwhelmed it and sent it crashing to the ground where it broke into four pieces on impact.

The Stop spell wore off and the frozen wrist of the duchess statue cracked and fell. Donald cast Gravira to crush the statue. The falling fist shattered on the ground and with expert timing Minnie cast Aerogun to toss Kairi into the air and let her down gently before she could take too much more damage. The queen mouse rushed over to Kairi's side while the redhead lay on the floor.

"Kairi! I hope you're not hurt," she said as she kneeled beside the girl. "Oh goodness! You're covered in blood!"

"Don't worry about that, it's fine," Kairi replied. "But the rest of me…"

Large parts of her flesh were already darkening, especially in places where a bone had been broken.

"Oh dear. Well, don't worry about a thing now, I'll take care of this," Minnie said, casting Curaga on Kairi. Just like the hi-potion, her injuries were healed in an instant.

At the end of the corridor, Mickey slashed at the Unversed. It parried with a rapid spin, not having to worry about its minions anymore. Mickey cast Blizzard on the spot of floor underneath the Unversed. It slipped and Mickey slashed a powerful uppercut to its chin, flipping it over towards the wall. It hopped back up onto its point with a growl and started spinning rapidly again, whirling over to Mickey to engage in more combat. Mickey met the tackle with a blow from the Keyblade that was powerful enough to interrupt its spinning. The Duchess slashed at him but he darted out of the way with a few quick back flips. While it was standing still for a second, Donald cast Thunder on the Unversed, stunning it.

"Minnie, now!" Mickey commanded.

"Yes, I know," Minnie answered, hurrying to the front lines. Kairi sat up and watched. Minnie raised her right hand, pointing the jewelled ring on her index finger at The Duchess and recited her spell: "FAITH!"

A glittery white beam shot from her ring and into the Unversed. With a burst of sparkly white magic the darkness peeled back. Monnie dropped gracelessly to the floor, unconscious. However, the Unversed was beginning to reform itself. Goofy took a spear from one of his soldiers and charged forward, impaling it. While Goofy had it immobilised momentarily, Mickey stepped forward and stabbed straight through it with his golden Keyblade. It burned away in black flames, leaving only one thing behind: a little green, heart-shaped crystal. It fell to the floor with a quiet _ping_ that nobody really heard. Minnie had already rushed over to her daughter and tried to rouse her by calling her name and gently shaking her.

Kairi stood up and walked up to the scene awkwardly, her throat tightening but for a different reason this time. Mickey and Minnie kneeled next to their daughter with relief when she finally came around. Donald moaned about his great-aunt's statue while Goofy tried to calm him down by assuring him the statues could be fixed with magic by tomorrow morning. At the same time he congratulated his men for a job well done and they, in turn, congratulated each other. Kairi walked around the group quietly and caught the shimmer of the green crystal in the sliver of moonlight seeping under the curtains. She picked it up and examined it as best she could in the dark. It wasn't envy she was feeling now. It was embarrassment. She hadn't been able to save herself.

* * *

Somewhere far away in a great, big ice castle a large glass mirror with a silver frame displayed to its spiteful owner – a wicked witch – what had just transpired in the corridors of Disney Castle. With a wave of her pale hand the image disappeared. She turned on her toes and descended the steps leading up to her mirror with a pleased smile on her face.

"Once again, that was well worth being woken up for," she remarked to no one in particular. "I really do have such a wonderful mirror."

She shed her long, white robe off her pale, thin shoulders and white nightgown and hopped onto one leg, turning on her toes and ending with an arabesque.

"I can't wait," she murmured, "to get my hands on that heart… and on that Nobody."


	9. The Snow Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet the wicked witch.

Kairi awoke in her bed the next morning, dressed in a new nightgown and underwear. Her muscles still ached and felt heavier than they should have, like intertia was pulling her down into the mattress. Resisting it with effort, she sat up in her quiet room and sighed. The events of last night replyed themselves in scenes patchily, especially those moments when she couldn't defend herself; she was too weak to fight for anything, even the Keyblade wouldn't obey her now. That was probably the reason why she was the one who always got left behind and had to wait. But waiting wasn't good enough, not anymore. She had secretly promised herself that when Sora had finally made his decision about Mickey's letter she would go with them – Sora and Riku – and not get left behind again. However, at this rate there would be no point in her doing so. She would only get in the way.

The door swung open quietly and Tabitha walked in with a trolley of food and tea. Kairi gawked at her in surprise. The cat maid parked the trolley next to Kairi's bed and trotted around to the windows to open the curtains.

"Good morning, dear. Are you well?" she asked in a voice that was lacking in the enthusiasm of the previous day. Kairi nodded. "I brought you breakfast in bed this morning. You should relax today; don't exert yourself too much."

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that for me," Kairi insisted, already trying to get out of bed. "I can still get up and stuff."

"I insist, dear. Last night must have been so stressful for you," Tabitha said, going back to Kairi's bedside and ushering her back into bed. "I have no doubt that you can still move, dear, but I think you need some rest for now. Have some breakfast and I'll find you something nice to wear."

"Please don't make me wear the corset again."

"Of course, dear. You must still be sore."

Tabitha disappeared behind the bed to get to the wardrobe and begin to sort out Kairi's outfit for the day. Kairi glanced at the breakfast Tabitha had brought her. She would have rather dressed and been down at the breakfast table with everyone else but since the maid had been so generous as to bring it up she might as well eat it, despite how uncomfortable doing so made her feel.

* * *

Kairi had nothing to do now except mill around the castle since she didn't feel up to drawing. Tabitha had dressed her in a high-collared light blue dress with wide sleeves and puffed shoulders, which Kairi would have put to the side if given the choice, and flat-soled half-laced boots. As she was gazing down at the snow-covered courtyard through a window she heard someone clear their throat behind her. It startled her since she hadn't heard any footsteps approach. She turned around and found a little black mouse wearing a red dress of a similar design to Kairi's and a bow clipped to each ear. She stood tall and straight, poised like a true princess should be.

"Oh, Monnie," Kairi said. "I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Do you feel okay?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to ask you," Monnie admitted, slumping a little bit. "I heard that you tried to help me last night and I wanted to thank you for it."

"Don't thank me, I didn't do anything," Kairi replied depressively. "Donald and Goofy and your parents were the ones who really saved you."

"But it's nice knowing that you cared." Silence fell between them for a few moments while they awkwardly looked anywhere except at each other. "My mom said you were hurt really badly."

Kairi laughed nervously, making a loud awkward sound that wasn't right for any situation let alone this one. "Don't worry about it! I'm completely fine. Your mom's healing magic fixed me up in a jiffy."

"I still feel bad, though," Monica said, looking at the floor. "It was my fault."

They both stared at the floor in silence. Monica shuffled her feet a bit. Then she finally looked up.

"Do you want to do something fun?" she asked.

"Okay," Kairi replied.

* * *

"This seems more dangerous than fun," Kairi said while she followed Monnie down the snowy streets of Disney Town. Monica dragged a sled behind her on a rope with a hook crudely tied onto the end, looking for a parked vehicle to hitch it to.

"Trust me, it's lots of fun," Monnie assured her. The mouse pointed to a black carriage drawn by two ordinary bay mares. "Look! It's a taxi! Hurry up before it leaves!"

Monica jogged the rest of the way to the carriage, forcing Kairi to follow. She hitched her sled onto the back and sat at the front, instructing Kairi on how she was supposed to sit on the sled behind her. Kairi blew out a puff of air, looking around the street. She was expecting someone to scold them for something – that it was dangerous or maybe it was illegal – but before anyone had approached them, the carriage and the sled jerked forwards. Kairi gasped and grabbed Monnie's shoulders.

"Relax, this is really fun," Monnie said, lifting the steering ropes of her sled. "Here, hold the ropes with me."

Kairi did as she was bidden as the horses pulled the carriage away from the curb and trotted down the street, the shoes on their feet clacking against the sealed road. She had thought at first that this would be the same experience as riding a raft or rowing a boat but it felt quite different. First of all, she didn't have any control over where she was going. The houses, parks and people passed them by at a pace Kairi had never experienced on land before and all she could see in front was the bottom of the taxi carriage and the horses' hooves. Monica laughed most of the way, enjoying the fast-paced ride and the wide turns the sled took every time the taxi went around a corner. Those parts of the ride made Kairi's heart jump into her throat, fearing that they would slide into oncoming traffic. There was one such close call with a motorcycle that had a sidecar attached. When the taxi finally stopped it was in front of a tall building with grand double doors. The taxi driver got out of his seat to open the door for his passenger: a man in a pristine grey suit. Monnia laughed and turned to Kairi, whose face was quite pale but her heart was thumping with excitement.

"That was great, wasn't it?" the princess mouse said.

"Y-yeah, I guess," Kairi stammered, feeling a little weak at the knees. She needed a little bit of time to just sit and process what she'd just tried and also wait for her heart to stop hammering.

"Oi!" the taxi driver snapped, spotting the two girls on their hitched sled. "What're you little twats doing there? Get off my taxi!"

Monnie squeaked and jumped to her feet, quickly unhitching the sled. Kairi stumbled to her feet, wobbling at the knees. They ran across the road to escape the angry taxi driver, narrowly dodging an automobile going the other way. They kept going down the street until they'd turned the corner and were out of sight and earshot of the taxi driver. Monnie was already out of breath and had to stop for a breather. Kairi wondered for a moment why such a strong dancer like Monnie would be out of breath already when she herself was fine but then she noticed the pinch in Monica's waist.

"I… told you this… was fun," Monica gasped.

Kairi huffed. "That was really dangerous! We were going really fast and we almost got hit. Twice!" She crossed her arms and glared at an indiscriminate spot on the pavement. "But… yeah, it was fun."

"We should do it again."

"Maybe not."

"C'mon! This time we'll do a car or a bus or something."

Kairi glanced into the street just as another automobile came up the road, easily overtaking a carriage in front of it and speeding away at about three times the pace. "No, let's not."

Monica sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. You're such a killjoy. How do you make friends?"

"Hey! I have friends!"

"Really? How many?"

"Two," Kairi answered quickly, changing her answer when Monnie gave her a disappointed look. "Maybe five?"

"Two? You only have two friends?"

"Probably five."

"So, you can count all of the friends you _'probably'_ have on two hands. That's really sad."

Kairi was about to correct her but decided against it, partly because mentioning that it only took one hand made it seem sadder and partly because she realised that unlike her Monnie only had four fingers on each hand. "I guess so," she finally responded.

"Then why don't you try living it up a little? I suppose since this is your first time we can take it easy and just do another carriage."

Despite it being dangerous, Kairi had to admit that she did want to do it again. Perhaps that was just her adrenalin kick doing the thinking, though. Either way, she agreed and Monica led her down to another street looking for a carriage. There was one parked close by – a beautiful white carriage drawn by four tall, strong, white reindeer with long antlers and silver bridals. It was an open carriage and the seats inside were upholstered with white leather and adorned with several plush cushions made of fine silk and cotton.

"That's really weird," Monica commented. "Who would be driving in an open-air carriage in winter?"

To Kairi, that wasn't quite the strangest thing about it. What she found most strange were the carriage driver and footman. They were both very round in the middle with round, white heads that Kairi thought looked almost exactly like the snowball she made yesterday, except they had long carrot noses and black buttons for eyes. They both wore formal white tailcoats and their arms were merely made from branches. The footman had a mouth made of raisins and the driver had no mouth, just a pipe stuck into his face, and they both wore a woollen scarf and a tall, black top hat.

"Is it just me, or are the staff just snowmen?" Monnie asked. Kairi wasn't didn't know what a snowman was, although she had the feeling that she actually did know and now that Monica mentioned it she had the feeling that they did look a lot like snowmen.

The doors of the building behind them – a bank – burst open and out stepped a tall, thin woman whose hair and skin were both as white as the snow. She was dressed richly in a fine fur coat with white leather gloves, followed by a handmaiden who was also pale but with a bluish hue to her skin and blank blue-grey eyes (literally blank – there was neither an iris or a pupil). She wore a plain white dress with no sleeves and on her back were glassy, triangular wings. The rich woman turned to look at Kairi and Monnie on her way past and Kairi was suddenly struck with the sensation of an icicle piercing her chest. 

"You two weren't thinking of hitching my carriage, were you?" the woman inquired.

"No," Monnie lied while Kairi stammered.

"Goodness, I hope not. I find the innocent joy of small children to be quite an intolerable nuisance." She focussed her stare on Kairi. "I daresay you seem a bit old for such silly things as hitching."

"I-I…" Kairi stuttered, unable to find an excuse for herself.

"Leave my friend alone," Monica snapped. "We're allowed to have fun whenever and however we want to. Just who do you think you are? It's not proper to talk down to a princess, y'know."

The white woman looked down her nose at Monnie with a frown on her face. "Such insolence from a spoiled brat. And you don't know who I am?"

Monnie seethed and was about to bite back with a retort but the woman waved her hand and all of a sudden all of the nearby snow sprang to life. It clumped into perfect balls that piled on top of each other and sprouted branch-like arms and button eyes. They shuffled forward (on account of them having no feet) with their sharp fingers bared. Kairi shied as the snowmen slowly advanced. She was certainly not up to this, especially not after last night. She was certain that the Keyblade wasn't obeying her anymore and that left her defenceless. Monica didn't take a step back. Instead, she brandished the ring she wore on her right hand similar to her mother's.

"Fire!" she cast, shooting a little ball of flame at each snowman. One had its head melted off while the other had its middle collapse, causing the head to drop to the ground.

In the meantime, the white woman and her handmaid walked past the two girls. The footman opened the carriage door for them to board the vehicle and closed it before taking up his proper post at the back of the carriage. With a wave of the white woman's hand, the snowmen reformed and this time with more snow added, making them bigger and tougher. Dark, menacing grins etched themselves onto their faces, making their heads look like white jack-o-lanterns.

"These mice may be your kings and queens," she scoffed, "but to the snow, the only queen is me. Away!"

On that command the driver flicked the reins, spurring the reindeers into a trot. The carriage pulled away, leaving the menacing snowmen with Kairi and Monnie. Monica set her jaw and steeled her resolve, keeping the gem of her ring pointed at the snowmen. She cast Fire again, melting small chunks off the snowmen's bodies but it didn't deter them in the slightest. They were now faster than they were before and were already upon the two girls before they knew it. The snowmen pounced, ready to squash them.

"Get down!" Monnie ordered. Kairi whimpered and ducked behind Monnie. "Fire!"

This time her magic took a different form: a moving ring of fire around them that tossed the snowmen back. They didn't crumble when they hit the ground; they got back up and kept coming.

"Maybe we should run," Kairi suggested. Monnie was about to agree but one of the snowmen put on a sudden burst of speed and grabbed her by the shoulders. It pulled her towards itself and opened its wicked mouth wide as if to bite her head off. Kairi screamed. "Monnie!"

Kairi lunged forward, hoping with all her might to be able to summon some strength from somewhere to at least wrench the mouse princess from the snowman's grasp. With a burst of shining light, the Keyblade appeared in her hand. Without thinking, she stabbed the snowman through the mouth. The end of the Keyblade poked out on the other side of its head. She tore the snowball head off and smashed it on the ground behind her.

Without the white woman to put it back together, it remained as snow. The snowman, however, still had its hold on Monnie and the other one was fast approaching. It reached for Kairi with its tree branch arms. Kairi slashed at them, snapping them. She sliced it straight down the middle and then smashed the midsection away. The head fell to the ground and shattered into an ordinary pile of snow. Monnie cast another Fire spell at the still moving lower part and it was blown to pieces. Kairi then hacked at the midsection of Monica's captor and kicked the lower section until it had all crumbled away.

Both girls' hearts beat quickly and their breath had hastened but they began to slow now that the danger was gone. The few people who had been in the street at the time stared in open shock at what had just occurred. Kairi looked at the Keyblade in her hand, unable to smile since she was so surprised to see it in the first place.

"It came back…"

"You can wield that thing too?" Monnie asked.

"Yeah… well, I guess I can now. Last night when I was trying to fight that weird creature it disappeared all of a sudden, right when I needed it. But this time it came back right when I needed it." Kairi gave the Keyblade a few more experimental swings before dismissing it.

"That's a good thing then," Monnie said. She looked down the road where the carriage had disappeared. "That woman is such a bitch. At least now you have something to hit her with if you get to see her ugly face again."

Kairi just blinked. Even though she'd been thinking quite the same thing, hearing it said so crassly by someone much younger just sounded so… weird.

"Oh, well. She failed at trying to spoil our fun anyway. Let's see if we can hitch a carriage going out of town and go sledding down some slopes. Or better yet, let's see if we can find an automobile!"

Monnie grabbed her sled and jogged up the street in search of another taxi. Kairi groaned.


	10. The Unversed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all fun and games until the Unversed show up and then you're really in hot water.

Monnie found a milk truck going to a dairy farm just outside of town on which to hitch her sled, dragging Kairi along for the ride unwillingly. All the way out of town, Kairi held onto the sled ropes tightly until her knuckles turned white. The sheer speed at which the truck could travel frightened her. When the truck stopped for the driver to open the farm gates, they unhitched the sled and scampered away into the woodland across the road where they found a moderate slope leading into a gully with a large pond at the bottom.

"This place looks fun," Monnie said, already setting up the sled at the top of the slope and winding up the hitching rope.

"Um… this looks kind of steep," Kairi said nervously, eyeing the frozen pond at the end. "What if you get stuck in the middle of the ice over there?"

"The sled will stop at the bottom of the slope. Don't worry." She got on her sled and grabbed the ropes. With a slight nudge and a holler of delight from Monnie the sled began to slip away and slithered down the gully wall to the bottom. It was all over quite quickly and Monnie hopped off and began the more laborious task of dragging the sled back up the slope. She made it back to the top, badly out of breath and needing to sit down.

"S-see?" she panted. "Nothing bad… happened. And… it's fun. You try."

She held the ropes out to Kairi. The redheaded girl hesitated but eventually accepted the sled. Monica watched her intently. She nervously began to set up the sled at the top of the slope just like Monica had done before. She sat down, holding the ropes tightly and even wrapping them around her hands to help her feel more secure. She nudged it. It budged but it didn't slip. It took a couple more nudges for Kairi to finally feel the sled move by itself. Her heart felt like it was jumping up and down in her chest. She leaned right back as the sled slid down into the gully. It was fast but at the same time exhilarating. It was different from hitching, when she couldn't see what lay ahead. This was exciting.

Then, all of a sudden, a little dark blue monster jumped out of the snow in front of her. She shrieked and pulled on the ropes, dodging the little monster and unintentionally steering herself down the gully and skidding onto the pond. After that one, two more popped out of the snow beside the first and a fourth jumped down from a tree. They all had angry red eyes and thin, pointy features.

Monnie had already gotten to her feet and was rushing down the hill. She cast Blizzard on the creatures, the cold temperatures helped to freeze them and made it easier for her Fire spell to do damage. Kairi got up to run over with her Keyblade and help she only took one step and nearly face-planted onto ice. Unfortunately, the little monsters were quite quick and one of them managed to dodge enough of Monnie's spells to get close. It lunged at her for a strike. Monica instinctively threw herself into the gully right next to a frozen monster, the only other one left after her magic barrage. At that moment, it managed to break itself out of its ice crystal. Monnie quickly cast Fire before it could slash her and luckily set it ablaze. The yellow flames were enveloped by black flames as the monster died. She sighed with relief but a call from Kairi made her look over to the redhead. Kairi frantically pointed at the air from her spot on the ice and Monica looked up, just as the last monster was right above her. She squealed, unprepared.

At that moment Kairi wished that there was something she was able to do to save Monnie but she knew she couldn't do anything. Then, suddenly two objects swiftly rushed past her with a sound like paper rustling and one of them made a superficial cut on her right cheek. They flew at amazing speed towards Monnie and the monster, making Kairi worry for her new friend's safety. The papers flattened out into perfect rectangles and snapped shut over the little monster. Monnie's chest heaved for air as she warily watched the papers, still firmly glued together, hover above her, afraid that they might suddenly snap downwards and crush her too. However, the papers just calmly floated away, back down the gully and across the pond. Kairi watched the papers pass by her again and followed them as they travelled back to a boy wearing black clothes and ice skates. In his hands he had a large, black, leather-bound book laid open to accept the pages flying back and replacing themselves in the book. When they settled he turned one page to examine the creature he'd trapped.

"Ah, finally I'm able to acquire my very own specimen. It's taken a bit of damage but it otherwise seems healthy." The monster's head poked out of the book with a screech, startling the boy to pausing in his mutterings. He snapped the book shut, securing the monster in the pages again. "And very lively too, it seems."

He shut the latch on his book and turned to see Kairi sitting on the ice next to Monnie's sled. He smiled at her but the expression seemed hollow. "My, my. Why is it that every time I see you, you seem to be in a bit of trouble?"

"Z?" Kairi mumbled. She looked around, trying to identify a path or a method of him arriving but she couldn't find any vehicles or footprints in the snow. "Wh-what are you doing here? How'd you get out here without us knowing?"

Z merely cocked his head to the side. "Are you the curious type?" he asked.

Kairi blinked. "What does that mean?"

He offered his hand to her. Kairi stared at it, wondering if this was supposed to be some strange and cryptic way of answering her question. Then he said:

"Take it. I'll help you up."

"O-oh!" Kairi gasped in realisation. She grabbed his hand and let him do most of the work in pulling her up, knowing that any help she could offer was probably useless and counterproductive.

"And your face…" he muttered, brushing the knuckle of one finger across her cheek, casting Cure. Kairi blushed vividly, not quite understanding why Z felt the need to go to such lengths as to cast Cure. An injury that superficial would heal away to nothing on its own. 

"Th-thanks… again."

"You're welcome, my lady," Z replied congenially. Kairi blushed even more. "Well, I suppose I ought to take my leave now. I have quite a bit of studying and experimentation to do."

"Is that why you caught that thing? Are you a scientist?" Kairi asked.

"Ah! Quite perceptive. Yes, I am a scientist."

"I see… you just seem young, is all. So, why do you need it? Do you not know what it is?"

"I know perfectly well what it is," Z said. "But there's a lot that I don't know about it either, which is why it's beneficial to finally have a specimen. To be honest, this one by itself probably won't be useful but I think I can find some more or maybe even make some if I can learn a little bit more about them. They've been making a comeback recently and I'm not sure why."

"Um, okay," Kairi said, interrupting Z's rambling. "So… what are they?"

"I see, you don't already know," he said more to himself, looking down at his book and its black cover. "These creatures are called the Unversed. They're similar to other creatures of darkness that you may already know of: They're in the same Order _Crudelis_ as Nobodies and in the Family of _Uincula nulla_ with the Heartless. They are physical manifestations of darkness with what is known as a 'dry body'; their bodily functions do not require hydration unlike an overwhelming majority of organic organisms. I'm not sure how they are created or why, which I'm endeavouring to find out. It will help with solving some of the other mysteries surrounding these creatures, such as how they are able to hold onto emotions without a heart. This means that they must at least possess some manner of complex brain unlike the Heartless which require no coherent thought, relying on their most basic of instincts but also unlike the Nobodies, which are able to maintain long and complex thought patterns without the capacity to sense emotion. This ability in the Unversed appears to be limited to one emotion per individual. A colleague of mine once proposed a theory that they are like emotions that are given shape and form, however, these emotions may not necessarily be negative as there are some Unversed that laugh and smile, which is not intrinsically a bad thing but the actions themselves can sometimes convey negative emotions or negative intentions and therefore their physical expressions can't be taken as an accurate indication of their nature. This is part of the reason why further experimentation on actual specimens is required."

Z stopped and looked at Kairi. She was giving him a half-lidded stare with a slack-jawed face. After a few seconds she realised that he'd stopped talking and snapped to attention.

"I'm sorry. I bore you," Z sighed.

"No, no, no! It's really interesting," Kairi insisted, even though she wasn't quite convinced of that herself.

"No, it's not. It's very dry and scientific. I don't blame you for not taking an interest; science is not an area of knowledge that interests many to a great extent, such an extent that I have become interested."

"Um… sorry," Kairi apologised carefully. "I've hurt your feelings, haven't I?"

"Don't apologise. I assure you, my 'feelings' are unscathed. However, I do believe that both you and that little mouse over there live in the castle, correct?"

"Yes. Wait, how do you know that?"

"I would return shortly if I were you, seeing as nobody in the castle knows where you are or what you're doing."

"Oh, crap! That's right! We didn't tell anyone we were going out!" Kairi exclaimed, working her fingers into her hair under her hat. She turned to run back to Monica but slipped again.

Z sighed again. He pushed the sled to the bank of the pond and helped Kairi get up again. She rubbed her nose, moaning a bit as her sinuses started acting up due to the blow to her face. "It looks like I'll have to carry you again."

Kairi blushed again when he said that, not only because it was embarrassing but it was a bit enraging too. "I would be able to help myself if I had a pair of shoes like yours."

"I have no doubts of that, however, you don't have ice skates and in the meantime until you acquire a pair I would recommend no more of this walking out onto sheets of ice."

"This time was an accident."

"And avoid accidents like this."

Kairi stepped onto solid ground, breathing a frustrated sigh. Monnie pulled her sled back onto the snow and looked up at the strange boy assisting Kairi. Already a few questions came to mind but only one was polite enough to be asked:

"Kairi, who is this?"

"This is Z. I only met him yesterday but he's really nice and helpful. Z, this is my new friend Monica Mouse."

"A pleasure, you highness," Z said, giving a moderate bow.

"Sure," Monica replied curtly. "But do you expect me to believe that Z is your real name?"

"I don't expect you to believe it – I do respect your intelligence – but that is all that I am willing to impart. Now, as I have already indicated, I have some work to do, so I will bid you ladies good day."

He turned around and skated back into the middle of the pond but didn't make any effort to really leave; he just flipped through the pages of his book. Monica and Kairi stared at him oddly for a while. They knew he was right, though, and it would be wiser to get back to the castle sooner rather than later.

"Just a few more slides?" Monnie pleaded. Kairi just shook her head and picked up her skirts to climb up the slope and return to the road. Monnie blew a raspberry but followed Kairi since she didn't want to be out in the woods playing by herself.

* * *

Back at Disney Castle, Mrs Prickles was waiting for them in the foyer with her arms akimbo and an angry frown. Monica swore that there had to be some kind of 'princess detector' fitted inside her nursemaid somewhere. Beside her was a portly maid with fluffy fur, large teeth and cheeks and very large ears that flopped down over the sides of her face. Mrs Prickles marched up to the two girls and grabbed Monica by the wrist before she could get the chance to escape.

"And exactly where have you girls been?" she demanded.

"Er… just around town, nothing major," Kairi answered.

"Nothing major? You have been missing for over three hours and there is no excuse whatsoever for skipping lessons, Monica!" Mrs Prickles scolded. "You will have to make it up to Miss T.J. and Dr Whoo in the near future. So, as of now- Goodness gracious! Just look at the state of your clothes! You're both wet!"

Kairi looked down at herself. Her coat was quite wet from playing in the snow. Her boots and the hems of her coat and all of her skirts were soaked completely, dripping on the carpet and covered in mud from the streets and the gully.

"How naughty. The both of you. This type of silliness is unacceptable from ladies such as yourselves. Kairi, I'm particularly disappointed in you. As Monica's senior you should take responsibility and exemplify appropriate behaviour to your juniors."

Kairi's face turned a bright shade of red and she looked at the floor.

Mrs Prickles snorted. "We need to get you girls dried and cleaned up now. Mopsy, please take care of Miss Kairi."

"Yes, ma'am," the long-eared maid said in a small voice and took Kairi's hand to lead her deeper into the castle. "This way, ma'am."

Kairi let Mopsy drag her back to her room, hanging her head in shame. She'd always been the good child in her group on the Destiny Islands (Tidus, Wakka and Selphie included) and had never been scolded so harshly by anyone before. It was such a blow to her pride.


	11. I Want to be Strong Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi gets to know Max, as well as the dismal limits of her abilities.

After Kairi had changed into a black dress that was slimmer and formfitting with a loose, flowing skirt, she still had nothing else to do. It only took her a few minutes to do some sketches and drawings of the Unversed and then she lost the will to do any more drawing. Getting told off still left a tight squeeze in her chest and since her coat and gloves were in the process of being washed she couldn't go outside again, so she took another walk around the castle. Having no aim or direction, she ended up back in the dance studio where she first met Monnie. This time the curtains were only open just a crack. She looked around at the spacious room and stepped inside, doing a little twirl on her toes. But dancing like Monnie was just wishful thinking for her.

The floors had already been cleaned spotless, leaving no trace that any sort of fight had occurred. Kairi summoned the Keyblade. It came to her again. She held it up in front of her with both hands, lifted it and slashed downwards, making a whooshing sound. Perhaps even trying to fight was wishful thinking too. She was the only one of all six on the play island who had never learned to fight. The time and place when she had finally been reunited with both Riku and Sora was both exultant and humiliating. They'd grown so much while they'd been away and they were stronger than she'd ever imagined they could be. The way they commanded their Keyblades like their limbs was enviable, while Kairi was still extremely awkward with it. How could she go with them? They'd already left her far behind. Or perhaps it was her who had fallen behind and just had to catch up. She slashed horizontally. It was not as easy as this, she knew. She was even a burden on Z, a person she barely knew who'd had to help her out of a troublesome situation twice. The Keyblade disappeared of its own volition again, abandoning her a second time. She squeezed her eyes shut but the tears slipped out anyway.

"Oops! Sorry, I thought this room was empty," said a meek boy.

Kairi wiped her eyes quickly and turned around to face the door. Max was peeking into the room. "It's okay, I'll leave," he said.

"No, you don't have to," Kairi said hurriedly. "I'm not really doing anything here. If you need this room then I'll leave."

"Really? I don't want to force you or anything…"

"You're not forcing me."

Kairi made her way back across the room to the doors and opened them wider, finding Max to be wearing a quilted tunic with a belt around the middle. "Do you mind me asking what you're doing in here? Just out of curiosity."

"Oh, yeah, I'm just doing some drills and stuff." Max scratched the back of his head and looked away as though he was embarrassed by this.

"Drills?" Kairi asked.

"For fighting." Max jiggled the scabbard on his belt that held a wooden sword inside.

"Really? Are you any good?"

"Well, sorta… maybe… I guess… yeah… I dunno… kind of," Max answered vaguely.

An idea suddenly struck Kairi. "Do you mind training with me?"

Max blinked and jumped back. "You? I mean, are you really good?"

"Well, no," Kairi admitted. "But I realised something recently. I'm not strong enough to do anything on my own. Even Monnie could probably look after herself if she was in trouble but I'm useless. I don't know what else to do. So, can I join you?"

Max took a moment to think about it. He shuffled his feet and constantly scratched the back of his head awkwardly but eventually he replied: "Yeah, sure. If that's what you want."

Kairi smiled. "Thank-you."

* * *

 

Max was a boy who put a lot of effort into things and by training with him Kairi realised just how much she didn't know how to do. With her new resolve, the Keyblade returned to help her but it didn't really make things any easier. She had to hitch up her skirts and stretch out muscles that she didn't even know existed. It wasn't even hot in the room but Kairi swore that she had never sweated so much at any one time in her life.

"Come on, you're only up to eight," Max urged her while she tried to do another push-up. Her chest and both arms felt like they were on fire and she couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, I'll make it the last one then."

With that incentive, Kairi finally began to push herself off the floor again. Her elbows wobbled but eventually she made it and triumphantly declared in a strained voice: "Nine!" before she collapsed on the floor.

Max knelt beside her, examining her flushed, sweaty face and her body rising and falling as she panted. "You're really, really unfit."

"Thanks for noticing," she said bitterly.

Voices were approaching from the corridor behind the doors. They opened and a sizeable group wearing leotards and stockings and carrying bags entered the studio led by the largest frog Kairi had ever seen (and he was also wearing tights). While the group put their things down against the piano wall away from any mirrors or windows a penguin with a bow-tie ushered in the last few before closing the doors and going to sit down at the piano. He began to play some warm-up scales as the youngsters replaced their shoes with slippers and spread out across the room for warm-up exercises. They cast curious glances at Kairi and Max and whispered to each other indiscreetly.

"What are all these kids doing here?" Kairi asked Max in a low voice. None of the youngsters looked like they would have been older than ten or eleven and they were mostly girls.

"This is a ballet lesson," Max replied. "I'm usually gone by the time they get here, though."

"Ballet? Um… Monnie said she did ballet, right?"

"Yeah."

Kairi's face instantly brightened. She scanned the room for any sign of the black mouse and spotted her stretching her leg on the bar, wearing a blue leotard. "There she is! Monnie! Hey, Monnie."

Monnie looked up but the moment she saw Kairi approaching she looked away, trying to make herself smaller. "Who're you?" she asked curtly.

Kairi blinked. "Uh, what do you mean by that? We were playing together this morning."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Monnie muttered, highly aware of the other students watching her. "Now stop talking to me."

Kairi huffed. "Hey! What's the big deal?"

"Don't shout."

"My, my," said a smooth, airy voice from behind them. Kairi and Monnie both turned to the girl who'd spoken. She was an elegant swan, tall and white with a long gracefully arched neck, wearing pink ballet slippers and matching leotard. She smiled at the two of them. "Is this a new friend of yours, Monica?"

"No," Monica snapped, bringing her leg down so that she could stretch the other one on the bar and turn her back to Kairi.

"Yes," Kairi said angrily, crossing her arms.

"I thought so, you look like Monica's type," the swan said. This brought giggles from the nearby students listening in, although Kairi wasn't sure why and glanced around in bemusement. "It's such a pleasure to meet a friend of the royal family. My name is Ernabella Swan, daughter of the Duchess of Merryway and fourth cousin of the Royal Court Magician." She crossed her legs and curtsied.

"Well, it's great to meet you too, I'm Kairi," Kairi replied, trying to imitate Ernabella's curtsy but it just looked like an awkward frog-legged half-squat. 

"Girls! Girls! What is all of this gaggling?" said a stern but croaky voice. The giant frog hopped towards them. He sat down between Monica and Ernabella and looked between the two. "Are you properly stretched and warmed-up? If you're not the class isn't going to wait for you. And who is this?"

Kairi went slack-jawed as the frog put his front legs behind his back and straightened out his long hind legs, suddenly towering over all of the students. He looked down at Kairi with his huge eyes and she suddenly felt as though she would like to shrink.

"This is Monica's friend," Ernabella answered the frog (Kairi guessed he must have been the teacher). "I suppose the princess must have invited her."

"This is not a spectator event, Monica," the frog said, turning his huge eyes to her. "If you insist that a guest must be present they must sit at all times at the edge of the room."

"I know that!" Monica retorted. "But she's not my friend."

Max tugged on the back of Kairi's dress to get her attention. "C'mon, we're not welcome here," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

"I'll escort them out," Monnie offered.

"You'll escort them? I'm sure they can manage to find their own way out of this room," Ernabella said. "Give their limited intelligence a little bit of respect."

"Shut up," Monnie barked, getting a gasp from the class. "They might need extra directions to find their way around the castle." She began to push Kairi towards the exit and made sure both she and Max were out the door and in the corridor before shutting the door behind her.

"Um… aren't you supposed to be in that class?" Kairi said, pointing to the double doors.

Monnie sighed. Then she suddenly turned around with a dark, narrow-eyed glare. Kairi and Max both squeaked and jumped back, not knowing what it was that they'd done to make her so livid.

"Never _ever_ do that again!" Monnie hissed.

"Do what?" Kairi said, stamping her foot and clenching her fists. "I haven't done anything! It's not a crime to want to meet the kids in your class."

"You don't have to be so embarrassing about it, though!" Monnie yelled back. She stomped up to the redhead, grabbed the hem of that black dress and yanked upwards. The two bunches where Kairi had hitched it into the sides of her knickers came free and the skirt fluttered down like paper. Max blushed and covered his eyes. "You! Walking around and parading your underwear for everyone to see! What is wrong with you? Not to mention your offensive smell! If you're going to sweat at least have the decency to deodorise before you let yourself into the company of other people."

Kairi blinked and her face flushed, again from embarrassment and shame. She was being told off again, however, this time she hadn't realised that what she'd done was wrong. The bloomers went down to just below the knee – an extremely modest length for someone who'd spent most of her life on a tropical island – and she still didn't quite make the connection between them and underwear. Nor had she thought that other people would be so put off by something like sweat. No matter how hot it got on the islands or how much running around they did, Kairi was never offended by the smell of Sora and Riku's sweat and they were never bothered by hers. She hadn't put much thought into just how different it would be in the world of King Mickey. She hung her head.

"I'm sorry for embarrassing you," she said sincerely.

Monnie's huffy expression deflated as she cooled down after that. Unable to muster enough venom to bite out something rude, she replied calmly: "It's okay as long as it doesn't happen again. I know you're new here and all. I'll see you later."

Monnie turned around and slipped through the studio doors again. Max shrugged and gave Kairi a nudge with his elbow.

"Hey, don't worry too much about what those snooty girls say," he said, trying to cheer her up. "They're just prudes."

Kairi sighed and stared at her crinkled dress. "I just had no idea that Monnie would get so mad. I was really excited since I've never really seen ballet before. It doesn't exist where I—"

" _Come from"_ was what she was going to say.

"—live." She wasn't sure what had stopped her from saying what she believed was truer.

"Seriously?" Max exclaimed. When Kairi gawked at him he looked away in embarrassment and rubbed his upper lip. "Uh… well… you're not missing out on much, trust me."

"Really? I saw Monnie doing some yesterday and it looked really cool. I want to see more."

"You're really determined, huh?" Max said. Kairi grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Okay, then. I'll take you somewhere cool. Follow me."


	12. Juliet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monnie's class is about to do a ballet and King Mickey has Donald and Goofy on the case. Meanwhile back on the Destiny Islands, Sora and Riku are looking for their lost friend.

Kairi thought Max was leading her around to the other side of the castle. He wouldn't tell her exactly where they were going. They went down a corridor Kairi recognised, mainly due to the great statue of Donald's great-aunt. Also the carpet was gone and there was a slim but visible scar in the polished stone floor. At the end of the corridor was a t-intersection where two sets of narrow staircases met the corridor. They took the one on the left but it didn't matter whether they did or didn't because when they stepped off the curved staircase they were in a large room serviced by both.

Kairi stared at this room in amazement. The floor here was not made of stone; it was made of a giant glazed ceramic tile with a mural painted on it. In the mural was a round frame enclosing a picture of rolling cumulus clouds in the sky with pegasuses, angels and dragons flying around in it. Around the frame were twelve monthly sections, depicting seasons and celebrations for each month of the year. On the ceiling was a similar mural but instead of all the grandiosity of the floor mural, it depicted the average life of the common person across the year with the framed section showing the sun and moon intertwined and surrounded by the constellations. It seemed to be a huge ballroom but the ceiling was rather low compared to the rest of the castle and the beautiful floor had two rows of large, thick pillars covering some parts of the mural.

"This part of the castle used to be one of the original floors," Max explained, "but my dad told me that years ago, before I was even born, the castle got renovated and more stuff was added. This floor became redundant and they had to put the pillars in to support the floors above. You can still get around on this floor though. They clean it every now and again but it's mostly deserted."

Kairi swiped her foot across the floor and wiped away a very thin layer of dust. "So, how is being up here going to help me see them doing ballet?"

Max beckoned for her to follow across the floor to the end of the ballroom. At the end were tall, thin columns ending in classical arches. Judging by their design, they were once window frames but there was no glass in them now. Instead, the windows had been moved to taller window frames several metres away and at the bottom of those frames the ballet class was taking place. It was just high enough for there to be a good view of the class.

"Wow! This is great!" Kairi gasped, looking down at the class. A few students were getting into formations but a lot of them were just sitting around the edge. "What are they doing now?"

"They have a recital soon, so I guess they're practising for it," Max answered, looking down with disinterest.

A group of four students, including Monnie, lined up in a straight line at the back of the room. The penguin that had played the piano for their warm-up was now working the gramophone, finding the right place in the music for the girls to practise to. They crossed their ankles and lifted their arms to start. In near perfect synchronisation they took a step to the right and then to the left. Their teacher hopped around, in front of and even over them, dictating the steps they had to take as they moved diagonally across the floor.

"That's it, coupé, passé, down to third, now en pointe, degagé, now turn. Excellent, you're doing wonderfully!"

Indeed they were doing so wonderfully that Kairi thought all of that dictating was unnecessary. The row of girls all reached what would probably be the front right of the stage and then kneeled, waiting for the next movement. And that's when Ernabella skipped out onto the dance space with such flourish and presence that everyone else seemed to just disappear. Her movements were slow and gentle as she glided through her short solo like a feather floating on the breeze. As she skipped past the row of kneeling ballerinas they each stood up in turn and followed her around the stage. She commanded them like servants and when they lined up diagonally across their imaginary stage Ernabella was their leader through a series of pliés, leaps, and turns, even though they were performing in synchronisation. In the movement's final stage Ernabella took centre stage while the other girls formed a semi-circle around her. They kneeled again with their heads bowed and their arms spread to indicate the magnificent character standing on the points of her toes between them.

The frog clapped and gestured to the penguin to stop the music. "Beautiful. Now, we all remember what comes after this, don't we? The boys return on stage to dance with the girls before this ball scene is finished. We'll begin again from Juliet's entrance shortly, however, I would just like to point out a few things first," he said, stretching his legs to stand at full height so that he could lecture: "Chrissie, you need to lift your leg higher on those arabesques and you're too slow on your turns. Myra, your moves seem restrained. Try to loosen up a little and don't be shy on those jumps. Linda, why do your knees seem so stiff? Get a little more bend in them. Monica, don't rush your turns and pirouettes. As for you, Ernabella, you're an excellent dancer, as always, and your moves have superb aplomb. Perhaps a little bit of subtlety in your opening steps could spice up this scene a little."

"Thank-you," Ernabella said with a smile, nodding once to show she understood and then turned her beak high into the air. Monnie rolled her eyes and one of the other girls (a calf) sighed.

"Aw, why did he have to criticise them like that?" Kairi muttered. "They're all amazing."

"I guess. But they're still relatively amateur," Max replied.

"But they're all little kids and yet they seem so advanced."

"Naw, ballet gets way more advanced than this. People usually start really young and practise for decades."

Kairi paled. "R-really? That long?"

"Yup."

"So I guess I can rule out ever being able to do it," Kairi sighed, putting her elbows on the ledge of the old window sill and resting her chin in her hands.

"Not completely," Max answered quickly, holding his hands up. "I mean, it's never really too late to try anything. But still, it would take you years to get as good as those girls." He titled his head in the direction of the class. The penguin started the music again and they repeated the dance from the point where Ernabella entered. Kairi smiled and admired them from above.

A chilly breeze blew through her. Kairi turned to look behind her but the old room was empty. She looked down at Monnie worriedly as the little ballerina lined up diagonally with her fellow performers. It felt slightly dark in the castle all of a sudden and Kairi wondered if everything was going to be okay. Through the small crack between the curtains tiny shadows began to appear. It worried Kairi at first but then something dawned on her.

"Hey, that's snow," she remarked. From where she stood, staring at it through the window, it looked like many small, white flower petals falling gently from the sky.

"You're right, it's snowing," Max said, looking away from the performance below to see the snow. "Not that we need much more of it right now. The ground is already caked in the stuff."

Suddenly a new thought came to Kairi's mind. "Hey, Max, do you have ice skates?"

"Yeah, why?" Max asked, not sure where she was going with this.

"Do you think you could teach me how to skate too?"

He shrugged. "I don't see why not."

* * *

Down in a basement level of the castle were the castle archives: a large room with a wealth of old records, scripts and books that were generally not of much use to anyone, so they were stored down below the everyday happenings of the castle in giant racks, shelves and boxes. Only once every now and again was someone required to go down there to search through the delicate castle history and now was such a time. At a small desk surrounded by piles of books, scrolls and documents, Donald Duck was poring through an old, thick folio that was almost twice as big as he was. An observer would only see his wizard hat peaking over the top of the pages as he flipped through them, muttering incomprehensibly to himself. Not too far away from the desk was an old wooden lounge set with two armchairs, a coffee table and a couch that had faded, unfashionable upholstery. There was a small pile of books and documents on the table but only a few had been touched and there was no rustle of papers to indicate that anyone was working there. Instead, there was just some light snoring coming from the couch. All of a sudden, Donald threw up his hands with a loud cry.

"This is taking forever! We don't even know if there's anything even remotely useful in any of this stuff," he grumbled, referring not only to his pile of reading but to the huge underground library in general. "Did you find anything, Goofy?"

The only response he received was a snuffle and a snore. Donald narrowed his eyes and stomped over to the couch where Goofy was comfortably reclined and fast asleep, head on one arm and feet on the other. The magician stood by the couch for a moment, glaring at Goofy and tapping his foot impatiently as if somehow just being angry would force Goofy to wake up. When that didn't work Donald raised his hand and snapped his fingers, casting a weak Thunder spell. The jolt sent a number of uncontrollable spasms through Goofy's body and startled the dog so much that he fell from the couch and onto the hard concrete floor.

"Gawrsh, Donald, didja hafta go an' do that?" Goofy complained.

"Why are you sleeping?" Donald quacked. "The King gave us an important job to do and you're slacking off."

"Aw, I don't mean to," Goofy said, standing up and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's just that reading all of this complicated stuff makes me kinda sleepy."

"Try to stay awake! These orders are obviously important since the King came to us personally to make his request."

"But do ya really think we'll find anything about the Unversed in the castle's archives?"

"There must be something," Donald insisted. "Otherwise the King wouldn't have sent us down here."

"Hm, I don't know. We've been here since this castle was first built and we'd never even heard of the Unversed until King Mickey explained it to us. How're we gonna know what to look for?"

"There's gotta be a clue in here," Donald muttered, scanning the shelves and racks surrounding them. "Even if there's no information…"

He intended to continue but was cut off when he noticed a book on a shelf pulled out from the other side. He blinked, shook his head and stared. Where there was once a book there was now empty space. One of the books on the side fell down to cross the space.

"Hey, Goofy, we're here alone, aren't we?"

"Yeah, of course we are."

Donald ruffled his feathers and ran towards the shelf. Goofy scratched his nose in confusion. He followed Donald as the duck ran around the shelf and pointed down the aisle screaming: "Aha!"

But there was nobody there.

Goofy caught up to Donald, noticing that the duck was staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the aisle of shelves. Goofy scratched his head and followed Donald's gaze. He gasped. There was no one there but there was evidence of someone there. In this aisle that they hadn't even tried yet were various empty spaces between books and boxes. They stood there for a moment, contemplating how so many publications had gone missing right under their noses – probably while they were there – and turned to each other.

"Someone's thieving!" they exclaimed in unison.

* * *

The sun was starting to set on the Destiny Islands when Sora and Riku met up in front of the mayor's house. They were both short of breath, having run most of the way and spent a majority of the day searching the island high and low.

"Did you find her?" Sora asked first, leaning on his knees.

Riku shook his head solemnly. He sat on the low fence and gazed at the sea from that spot high on the hill. The mayor's house had a stunning view of the whole village and the play island and would have been an almost enviable place to live, except that when one got this far up the hill there was always the fear of the island's active volcano suddenly exploding to life. Everything closest to the cone was always the first to be destroyed. Riku turned his gaze to look at the smokeless summit. He'd never seen this volcano erupt in his lifetime but he had once seen another. All of the islands were so far away from this one that they normally couldn't be seen and yet when Riku was eight a volcano on a distant northern island erupted so violently that the column of fire and smoke could be seen even this far away. His thoughts were broken when he felt Sora sit down next to him and brush arms with him. He edged away a little bit.

"We've searched everywhere," Sora sighed, leaning his elbows on his knees and putting his chin in his hands. "She can't just disappear, can she?"

"Well, so far that's what it looks like," Riku muttered. He turned when he heard footsteps pounding up the path to the mayor's house. Tidus, Selphie and Wakka were running up the path. Tidus waved to them and sprinted the rest of the way. They all had to stop to catch their breath once they reached Sora and Riku.

"Man… that hill is brutal," Tidus huffed.

"Why didn't you come up from the other side?" Sora asked, nodding his head in the direction of the path he'd taken to get up the slope. "It's less steep."

"Yeah, well we're here now."

"Why?" Riku inquired.

"Because we're helping," Selphie said, sitting down next to Sora. "We're worried about Kairi. We're her friends too, you know."

"We've covered pretty much the whole island, ya," Wakka said. "We can't find her at all."

"Did anyone try the mangroves?" Tidus asked.

"She'd never go in there," Riku replied.

"Why not?"

"Because it's muddy and smelly and full of poisonous snakes," Riku answered. "Even if she was really desperate to hide from us she wouldn't go in there."

"Well, we should at least try," Selphie suggested. "I mean, if we rule that out, we've got nothing."

Sora turned around when he heard the creak of the front door opening. The mayor stepped out into the evening sun looking weary as though he'd worked too hard and slept too little. He was a young mayor; he'd taken over the job from his predecessor as a teenager and had been in charge for a while (he was mayor for as long as Sora could remember). He had the regal stride and form of a prince or perhaps a knight but he dressed no differently from the people he governed and yet was still distinctly unique amongst them. He was one of the ultra-fair-skinned types – rare in the population of the island – like Riku. They were related, actually, through a great-grandfather (although to tell the truth, everyone on the island was related to someone on the island in some way and Sora thought it was a wonder that they hadn't all become completely inbred by now). They even had the same prematurely silver-white hair. He strode up to the group hanging about in front of his house looking stressed and pensive.

"I take it you haven't found her," he commented. All members of the group shook their heads. Riku noticed the thumb on the mayor's left hand playing with a ring on his fourth finger. He still wore it even though the duplicate was buried with its wearer. He sighed in defeat.

"Don't sweat it, though, we'll find her yet!" Tidus promised, puffing his chest out and hitting it with a fist. "Even if we have to build a huge raft and travel to another world to find her, we'll do it."

Riku and Sora exchanged worried glances.

"I don't think that'll work," Sora said.

"Why not?"

Sora faltered and looked to Riku for an answer. Riku just shrugged.

"It would be impossible to get to another world on a raft, you'll need something more substantial," the mayor answered. Sora and Riku looked at him in shock. The mayor saw their surprised faces and smiled just a little bit. "Shooting stars fall out of the sky, not the horizon."

Suddenly Sora jumped to his feet and grabbed Riku by the wrist. "I have an idea now. Come on, Riku." He dragged Riku to his feet and sprinted away down the slope, leaving Tidus, Selphie and Wakka at the top with the mayor.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Tidus yelled down at them. "Can we come too?"

"No!" Sora shouted back.


	13. Even I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi just wants to learn to ice skate, Donald and Goofy just want to work, and the Snow Queen just wants to... what?

The next morning Kairi woke up in a dark room and yawned widely. Something felt a little off. She had the lingering feeling that normally she would still be asleep at this time. She glanced at the pink and white heart-shaped clock on the wall. It was still quite early. A light bulb suddenly went off in her head and her face brightened. The morning felt different because Tabitha hadn't woken her up; it was still too early. To Kairi this was a grand opportunity. If she was quick she could slip out of bed right now and dress herself before the maid came in and made a fuss of everything. She pushed back the covers, shivering a little at the cold, swung her legs off the bed and slipped her feet into slippers. She shuffled over to the cupboard and threw open the doors, ready to choose her own outfit today but stopped when the selection was suddenly right in front of her. She slowly turned to look at herself in the cupboard mirror. Why did this feel so familiar? Two days was surely not enough time to get that used to something.

"Have I done this before?" she asked her reflection. "Maybe during that time I can't remember."

Suddenly she felt very odd and a little bit hollow. She hardly ever thought about the days before she arrived on the island. Most times she even forgot about them altogether. It had been wildly confusing and distressing at first, she remembered, turning up on a strange island with no recollection of where she had been, how she had gotten where she was or who her family was but as the years went by with Sora and Riku and the Destiny Islands she stopped caring. It was enough to just be with them on their little island passing away the lazy days with climbing, jumping, fighting, racing and fishing. It had annoyed her a little bit when Riku decided that they should try to find her real world with a raft because she liked being on the islands. It was warm and light and people were friendly, whereas they had no idea what would await them in another world. Kairi would have been sorely disappointed if they had managed to use their raft to travel to another world only to stumble on a place that was as cold and dark as Disney Castle was now.

She turned back to her selection, deciding that she ought to choose her clothing soon otherwise Tabitha would get there and do it for her. She picked a red dress with cuffed sleeves and a lacy underskirt.

* * *

Max did somewhat agree to teach her to ice skate and Kairi was hoping that he would do so after breakfast. Except that as she was going down the stairs to the dining room she spotted him on his way out slinging a backpack over his shoulders. She rushed down the stairs to meet him before he left, calling him back. He stopped and turned around apprehensively but decided that he could wait just a little while.

"Max, where are you going?" Kairi asked, getting to the bottom of the stairs and standing in front of him.

Max fidgeted with his scarf and raised an eyebrow. "Um… to school. Where else?"

"Huh? Is it a school day?" Kairi said, blinking a bit. "But surely they don't really expect you to learn when it's so cold."

"Yeah, well, what can you do about it," Max said with a shrug. "But I've gotta go or I'll be late and my English teacher told me that if I'm late to her class again she'll give me an indefinite number of detentions. So I really have to go."

"Okay, but what about ice skating?" Kairi pressed. "You did say you would teach me."

"I guess I did…" Max pondered that for a moment. "Can you skate with wheels?"

"Yeah."

"Well, ice skating is pretty much the same but on blades. Look, ask around the castle and I'm sure you can borrow some that fit. But I really have to go."

"Okay, bye," Kairi said with a small wave as Max turned and hurried away. "Have a good day." It left her slightly disappointed but she understood what it meant to be a schoolkid and she couldn't really do anything about the responsibilities of classes and studying. Nonetheless, if it was as easy as he claimed it was then surely she could teach herself. So, she turned around and set off to find a pair of skates that she could borrow.

* * *

Down in the basement again, Donald and Goofy were frantically searching through the archives. Well, Donald was. They'd taken down every book, folder and file from the shelves that had been rifled through and began to pore through them. Even though the castle guard and the police had all been notified and a search was now under way, King Mickey believed that the thief still had the capability to strike again. He'd gotten through the castle's security once and since nobody knew how he did it he could probably get away with doing it again. With that in mind, Donald thought the best plan of action would be to scour all of the shelves that had been stolen from in hopes that their sorted order might provide a clue as to why those particular items were stolen.

"Hmm…" Donald muttered, tapping the bottom of his beak. "These are just all of the old travel records. Why would anyone want a boring old journal?"

Indeed, those journals were old. It was, after all, the archives and only the old and rarely used was stored down here. The journals and travel records (of all types, even travel receipts) were at least five years old.

"Maybe I should be asking Jiminy Cricket," Donald wondered but then he shook his head and murmured: "nah, that won't do." Jiminy had only been employed at the castle quite recently, not even five years ago. He wouldn't have written any of the journals in the archives.

Laughter suddenly echoed about in the high ceiling of the archive basement. Donald looked up from his reading and was pounced on quite unceremoniously by three little ducklings.

"Huey! Dewey! Louie!" he growled. "Can't you see I'm working here?"

"We want you to teach us some magic, Uncle Donald," Dewey said.

"Yeah, Uncle Donald," Louie added. "Teach us."

"I'm busy!" Donald squawked, jumping up and flailing his arms around agitatedly, sending papers and books flying as well as his nephews.

"Aw, please Uncle Donald?" Huey pleaded. The three of them gave him their best puppy-dog eyes with a matching pout.

"No means no!"

"That's okay, then, we'll teach ourselves," Dewey announced.

Huey picked up Donald's mage staff that was propped up on a stack of books. "Can we borrow this?"

"Absolutely not!" Donald snapped, snatching the staff from Huey's hands.

"But you're not using it right now," Louie pointed out.

"And it's not even your best one," Huey said.

"Heck, it's not even one of your good ones," Dewey added. "You only carry that one around the castle 'cause it matches your hat."

"Doesn't matter," Donald shook his head with his beak in the air. "If you want to learn some magic you should get your own. And besides, aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"We're skippin'," Huey admitted.

"Don't tell him that," Dewey hissed. "We'll get in trouble."

"Well stop skipping. Don't make me tell Daisy on ya!" Donald said.

"She's not our mom," Louie retorted.

"Yeah, she's not our mom," Huey agreed.

"I just said that, Huey!"

"So what, Louie?"

"That's enough guys," Dewey snapped. He turned back to Donald. "Well, Uncle Donald?"

"I already said no!"

"At least let us borrow your staff," Louie demanded.

"No!" Donald screeched waving his staff in irritation. In his frustration he accidentally cast Thundaga and sent bolts of lightning flying all around. They weren't aimed at anything and hit nothing but it was enough to scare the boys into scrambling around Donald's pile of books and fleeing, agreeing to go to school even if they were extremely late. The huge crack and boom also startled Goofy awake from where he was sleeping on the couch.

* * *

Far away in a tall castle made of ice the Queen of Snow gave her mirror a little tap, dispelling the image it was showing her of the activities in the castle archives. She smirked a little and turned around to gaze at her grand personal throne room. It had her mirror at one end and an extravagant throne of ice and stone at the other. Dressed elegantly in a white romantic tutu with an attached bodice, she pirouetted into attitude position and summoned her snowmen from the piles of snow that often blew in through the tall windows. With a mere thought she ordered one to sit at the piano in the corner of the room meant to entertain her and play for her. She descended the steps of her mirror's stage with unparalleled grace, ordering the free snowmen to worship her with deep bowing.

"You see, there really is some ugly in everyone," she told them, even though she knew that they wouldn't reply. They had no minds to think with and no hearts to feel with, they were just snow. "Yes, I think I can make this go very, very well for me. Don't you think?"

She turned to one of her snowmen. It nodded at her but only because she wanted it to. She let out a frustrated sigh and slapped it hard in the head, demolishing its face. At once she was struck with a familiar emptiness that weighed heavy on her entire body. Emptiness stemming from the knowledge that she was all alone in this castle. "But that's why I need that heart, isn't it?" she said as if she was conversing with someone. "And that Nobody whom the heart will fill. So that I will have a wonderful boy to share my home with me."

With the simple turn of her imagination the snowman at the piano began to play a lilting melody while she lifted herself into attitude again and turned.

_"No one is an island  
Isn't that what they say?" _

She sang to herself, bringing her leg down and lifting her other.

_"Not a man or a lass_   
_Can do it all their own way._   
_You ponder, you can try_   
_But in the end you only find_   
_No dice._   
_Not even I."_

She lowered her foot and began to bourrée down her throne room while her snowmen lined up on either side of her. She stopped at the end to dance before her throne.

_"It's been a very long time,_   
_A very long time alive,_   
_And the only ones I've had_   
_Are just snow, you know."_

She bowed daintily to each row of snowmen and took a breath, preparing for her next movement.

_"Everybody has a moment_   
_When they need to just move it_   
_Since they have a little itch_   
_Even a witch_   
_Even I."_

She pirouetted once with a straight leg and then quickly leaped forward. Upon landing she spread her arms out as if she was inviting someone into them but there were only the snowmen. In irritation, she transformed them all into ice statues bearing the form of the Nobody she'd seen only two nights before. No doubt she found him handsome, which was what made him perfect for her ambitions.

_"Even I need someone to hold  
Despite not feeling the cold." _

The two ice statues closest to her reached out to offer their hand to her, entirely upon her whim. She slipped her fingers into the icy hand of only one of them and pirouetted, bringing it closer to her and commanding it to support her. She stopped and with her arms crossed she held the hands of her ice statue.

_"Even I need someone to talk about the world_   
_To tell me stories, sing me odes,_   
_Or tell me lies._   
_Yes, even I."_

With that she pushed away from her current partner and travelled straight into the arms of the statue across from it. Holding onto it in the same way as she'd held her previous partner. Her pianist changed the beat of the music at her wish.

_"He doesn't need to be nice,_   
_I can handle the ice;_   
_I'm the Queen of the Arctic Realm."_

She let go of her partner in order to promenade to face him. Her partner moved to her side and supported her at the waist. She raised herself to full point while her ice statue partner promenaded her as she changed to attitude, leaning wishfully into his cold chest.

_"Here surrounded by snow_   
_I don't need more control_   
_I need someone else to know."_

She left the arms of her partner and returned to the centre of her catwalk framed by the handsome visage of nobody who really mattered. With a wave of her hand her statues took a couple of steps back to give her more room. Her pianist played her exactly the kind of solo she wanted while she stepped forward to perform a series of grand leaps for her uninterested audience.

_"I guess you could say that_   
_I'm certainly a fool_   
_Or that a Lady like me_   
_Couldn't possibly be true"_

She reached out to either side of her and commanded two more of her ice statues to come forward and each take a hand. They lifted her arms above her head and supported her pirouette.

_"But being Queen of the Northerns_   
_Doesn't make me less like others_   
_And I cry._   
_Even I."_

She took her hands back, slowly bringing herself back to arabesque. She chose one of her current partners to step in front of her and take her outstretched arm. It stepped forward, just as she imagined it would. She lowered her lifted leg and stepped forward to meet it with an embrace.

_"Even I need someone lean upon,_   
_I'm not always strong._   
_Even I need someone to dry my tears_   
_Before they freeze on my cheeks_   
_Or in my eyes._   
_Even I."_

She asked it to lean forward and kiss her. It complied as it always did, pressing its lips on hers but it didn't have a real mouth to do any of what she truly wished it to do, nor would it ever surprise her by doing it without her command. She pushed it away and balled her fists. In a fit of disappointment she stomped her foot and all of her creations (her ice statues and her snowman pianist) shattered and crumbled into piles of debris.

_"I am alone inside_   
_My towers of snow and ice._   
_And that is the drive_   
_For which I will take my prize."_

She turned on her toes and strode out of her throne room. She intended to change into something with a bit more flair because one always needed to be dressed their best when visiting the house of the royal family. It was time to speed things along if she was going to get her wish before the all-important day arrived.


	14. Ice Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Z shows up at the opportune moment once again.

It was without much difficulty that Kairi managed to borrow a pair of ice skates that fit properly but her coat and gloves were still wet from washing the day before. Fortunately, it was easy enough to acquire another. According to one of the maids on duty, in an out-of-the-way back room where the deliveries normally took place there were several racks of clothes that some of the castle's aristocratic residents had wished to throw away and the King ordered them to be delivered to the second-hand shops in town. It took a great deal of searching and a few directions from staff members but Kairi eventually found this room packed with more clothes than Kairi had ever seen in her life. Some of it looked new as if it had only been worn once.

"Whoa," she gasped, walking along the racks and running her hands over some of the rich fabrics. "Why would anyone throw these away? They're all so nice."

From this collection Kairi salvaged a pair of red leather gloves, a black coat with a thick, furry collar and a soft, furry Cossack hat, also black. With these she was ready to go outside and start practising her skating and she knew just where she wanted to go. She went straight out to the patio at the back of the castle and sat on the edge of the fountain pool to exchange her red half boots for the borrowed ice skates. She swung her legs around onto the ice and paused. She stared at the smooth surface uneasily and took a deep breath for courage before trying to stand up.

It was much, much easier. The blades cut into the ice, granting stability on this slippery surface. Kairi smiled and pushed herself forwards. Granted that it had been a long time since she'd even skated on wheels, the experience was familiar. She could skate around and around the pool capably, feeling as though she was gliding. She put her arms out as though she had wings to cut through the crisp, cold air – a game that she used to play with Sora and Riku, except that they would do it while running and jumping off the islet with the Paupu Tree or even the deck. Kairi would never jump, though, only the boys would because the water was quite shallow but they'd managed to master a special little trick that allowed them to land safely. Kairi had never quite mastered that trick.

In her reminiscence Kairi skated over a groove that she'd made earlier in the ice and tripped. She groaned but this time it was just a mild frustration; she was confident that she'd be able to help herself up now. She pulled her legs up underneath herself and got into a crouch. From there she began to steadily lift herself. Just when she thought she really would make it back up, her feet slipped apart beneath her and she fell again. Her heart thudded. Perhaps she wouldn't really be able to help herself up and she was stuck again. She swallowed thickly and tried again. Her knees wobbled with the effort and strain. Slowly but surely, she was able to make it to a standing position. She let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Quite impressive for someone with no training."

Kairi squeaked and lost balance in her surprise. She waved her arms around to try to get it back but that only made it worse. When she thought that she was definitely going to fall again, whoever it was that had snuck up behind her grabbed one of her wrists and her underarm to keep her steady. Kairi panted and felt her heart racing from the shock. She turned her head to look at her visitor.

"Who're—oh! It's you."

Z nodded expressionlessly.

"D-didn't you have some studying to do or something?" Kairi asked, trying to pull herself away and stand up independently but Z held her firmly.

"You're not balanced properly," he explained. "As for study, I've decided to take a break. I can't study constantly; I need some time for myself."

"I was under the impression that you were the kind of person who did studying and science-y stuff for fun," Kairi muttered, trying to pull away again. "And I can balance just fine."

"No, you're not balanced," Z asserted. "You're not even standing on your skates properly. They should be straight, don't let your feet lean inwards. It puts too much undue stress on your ankles and knees and you'll get blisters easily that way."

Kairi growled in annoyance. "I was doing just fine until you showed up," she retorted hotly but attempted to follow his advice anyway. Her skates wobbled. "Eek! This is making it worse."

"You're just not used to it, it's making it better," Z assured her, still not letting her stand on her own. "When you becoming good at standing straight on your skates you'll be able to go faster and have better manoeuvrability because the force of your weight will be acting in a straight line downwards. When your skates are in line with the direction your weight is acting Newton's Third Law that there will always be an equal and opposite reaction to any force applied will assure that your body is properly supported. At the moment, the angle your skates are slanting is making you slow because the reaction force is too weak. This is forcing the rest of your body to compensate in order to attain the correct balance by becoming tense. When your joints become too tense they'll lock and this is useless because when the joints have no mobility or flexibility the chances of injury are higher and you have less control over them. The blades will also have a lot of stress put upon them and you'll find that if you keep this up they won't last long because the downward forces increase the bending and shearing forces on one side of the blade and that will eventually cause the blade to bend and maybe even snap and you have that bored look on your face again."

Kairi blinked and shook her head, trying to pretend that she didn't just have that dopey expression again. "No I don't!"

"Yes you did."

"I didn't, I swear! I just… I guess I get kind of confused when you make long explanations like that. All I really understood from that was that you think I'm fat," Kairi said with a huff.

"I didn't say anything of the sort."

"But you were saying something about my weight breaking the skates!"

"I was saying that at the angle the skates are currently positioned at there is too much stress in the metal and in your joints and the reaction force is not as effective as it should be due to the fact that it's not in a direct relationship with your weight."

"To me that just sounds like a nerd's way of saying: 'you're fat'," said Kairi.

"It's not going to happen right away. The stress will build up over time but to save the condition of your legs and increase the longevity of your ice skates it's best to always use the correct method. If it makes you feel any better, this doesn't apply to just you. Anyone wearing any skates should observe and abide by the correct technique."

"You're taking all the fun out of this by making it all too complicated!" Kairi whined.

"Maybe this isn't fun for you anymore but as for me, I enjoy the complexity of nature and the physical forces," Z explained. "In fact, I'm actually surprised that you know so little. I only explained it in the terms that I did because that's the simplest scientific form. Don't you do science at your school? Physics? Biology?"

"O-of course we do science at school," Kairi stuttered. "But it's optional-"

"Optional? That's absurd. Science should be compulsory," Z argued. Kairi blinked. This was a change of mood for Z. When she'd seen him before he was so expressionless and approached everything with a calculated evenness. How had he suddenly become so passionate? He continued: "Science is all about the pursuit of knowledge. It's about discovery of our worlds, the understanding of their physical laws, their evolution, their interactions, their processes – this is the ultimate level of understanding that anyone could ever achieve. Through science we learn how to build structures, how to grow living organisms, how to revolutionise communication, how to invent machines, how to power those machines – we know how things work because of science. If you have any question about the universe – any at all – then just put it to science and the people who are dedicated to it, looking for answers, searching for the unknown and probably the most wonderful thing about science is that we'll never know everything. The worlds are always changing. Each change brings forth a new discovery, new rules, new dimensions of our world that we probably couldn't have ever imagined ourselves."

"I get it, you like science," Kairi interrupted before he could continue. She had the feeling that Z could probably go on and on forever if she let him.

"I apologise. I'm not sure what came over me just then," he replied with his usual expressionless tone and face. "I'm normally a much more subdued person. I believe this must have been a passion of mine. But I'm not all about science. I have many other interests in other fields of study such as the humanities, mathematics, linguistics and the like. I'm not really much of an arts person though. I was never really an arts person, was I? I never painted or drew much as a child except to sketch scientific diagrams, Venn diagrams, flow charts and such things. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about myself. You're the one who needs help right now."

"I was beginning to think you were the one needing help," Kairi muttered. _"Mental help."_

"Perhaps I am. That wouldn't be a farfetched conclusion to draw. Now, shall we?" Z let her go, skated to her side and took one of her hands.

"Wait a minute." Kairi snatched her hand back quickly and paused, unsure of where to continue.

"Is there are problem?" Z asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I guess I just want to know," Kairi started, thinking about how to word the question, "how do you always know when I need help?"

"Coincidence."

"No, I'm not stupid. I know it's more than that. You're stalking me or something."

"No, I'm not stalking but I do spend a fair amount of time at this castle. Maybe less so now that I have a new project. I've seen you around."

"And then you follow me?"

"I have better things to do than follow you all the time."

"So you follow me some of the time," Kairi said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Z just blinked at her and his lips slowly twitched into a smile. Kairi's own smile fell when she noticed how forced it was.

"You're just being facetious now," he said. "It's a good joke though."

Kairi sighed heavily and hit Z playfully on the shoulder. "Damn, you saw right through it." she grabbed his hand and pulled him after her. "Well, are you going to teach me or what?"

Z nodded and skated ahead of her. "Of course, let's start with the basics then."

"Use short explanations."

Z paused. "Sure."

* * *

Down in the castle archives, shortly after Donald had finished rearranging the papers and documents he'd thrown everywhere, he was throwing them back up into the air and flailing his arms, sending white feathers all over the place with the papers.

"This is useless!" he complained. "No clues about the Unversed and no clue why someone would steal from the archives."

"Maybe they were sensitive documents," Goofy guessed, failing to stifle a yawn while he read through a document bound with string.

"Why would anyone want documents that old?"

Goofy shrugged. "Hmm… what if the thief was looking for the same thing that we're looking for?"

"What? You think someone else wants to know about the Unversed?"

"Could be. If the King thought that there might be some information about the Unversed in the archives then maybe there was, except the other guy stole it all before we found it."

Donald glared at Goofy, finding this to be some product of stupidity or a joke that he was not amused by. "Why would all of the information about the Unversed be in the old travel journals?"

"Maybe the King encountered them in another world and recorded it in a journal that he probably forgot about. Like how Jiminy always recorded the enemies we fought in his journal."

"My, my, we seem to be busy," said a cold voice. A freezing gust blew through the archives, scattering books and papers even if they were shelved. Donald and Goofy had to brace themselves against it but it didn't last long.

"Who was that?" Donald demanded. "Show yourself!"

"Very busy," the voice said again. Donald and Goofy looked up to follow the direction of that voice and gaped at the amazing spectacle of a white woman dressed in a light blue sparkling pancake tutu with a matching strapless bodice floating down from wherever she had appeared with slow pirouettes. As soon as her toes hit the ground she crossed her legs. "Shall I come back later?"

"Who're you?" Donald quacked. "You don't have authorisation to be here."

"How rude. Do the staff always treat guests at the castle this way?" the white woman said with a smirk.

"If you were invited I think we woulda known," Goofy said, picking up his shield in case it was needed.

"Oh, such a cute toy," the white woman mocked, standing up on point and tightening her stance. "I don't suppose that you would mind playing with me?"

She flicked one leg up to point her toes at the two before her and swung it around into a pirouette, kicking up another cold, whirling gust. Darkness from the shadows splashed into the airstreams and coiled around every book, paper, item of furniture, and every body so that there was no escape.


	15. Mine and Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An ice skating lesson is interrupted when the Unversed strike again and it looks like it's Kairi's turn to shine.

Kairi gasped as she wobbled on the ice, turning one of her heels out just a little bit to scrape to a stop the way Z had shown her. When she managed to stop and yet remain standing she breathed out a sigh of relief, confidence boosted just that little bit more. She grinned and turned around to look at Z, wondering if he had been watching her achievement. The grin was wiped off her face when it turned out that he wasn't looking at her but was instead staring off into space with one hand to his chin, pondering something.

"Was that good?" she asked, deliberately breaking his train of thought. He turned to her.

"You're doing well," he said with a small nod. It wasn't the proud, cheerful reaction Kairi had been hoping for. "You have the simple basics down. I think you should just keep practising at that for a while and then you can move up to something more complicated."

Kairi sighed and fiddled with a pocket flap on her coat. Truth be told, she would love to stay and do more of this – she might even have said that she preferred to – but tomorrow would be the third day. The passenger Gummi Ships would be cleared and she could be flown back to the Destiny Islands to be with Sora and Riku again. There would be no snow and no ice for her to practise on. It would just be them and their sand and their island. Somehow she regretted having to leave. Despite being so compelled to leave at the beginning she now wanted to stay, maybe even forever.

"I wonder if Sora and Riku have ever seen this place," she wondered aloud. She knew that Sora had been to Disney Castle before from his stories but he'd said it was bright and sunny and green. She wondered if he'd ever seen it in winter when the roof was covered in snow so that the whole building almost looked like it was a great big snow castle.

Z suddenly perked up upon hearing the names but Kairi didn't see it. She was too busy admiring the castle now and didn't pay any mind when Z glared at her. "Sora and Riku?"

"They're my friends," Kairi explained, guessing that Z had just overheard and was curious. "They both went on these big adventures this past year and I was just wondering if they'd ever seen this castle in the winter."

"I see… so they're not with you right now."

Kairi shook her head. "I'll be going back home tomorrow. I bet they're going to love all the stories I've got to tell them! This'll be the first time ever that I'll be the one with the great story to tell and they'll have to sit back and listen. I can't wait to see their faces!"

She giggled, imagining the faces of Sora and Riku speechless as she told them about ballet and the snow and how she and Monnie fought snowmen and Unversed by themselves. But that's when her face fell. What could she really tell Sora and Riku about those fights other than how useless she was most of the time? She'd needed the help of Mickey and Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Monnie to win; she couldn't do it by herself. They'd fought hard to protect her in the past. Sora had tried so hard to find her; Riku had protected her life in The World That Never Was. If they could see the evidence of how weak she actually was, wouldn't they just be scared? They would never let her go anywhere with them again.

Suddenly the ground rumbled. Kairi lost her footing and slipped again but Z swooped in and caught her around the waist. He was also struggling to stand on the slippery surface as the earth shook and then all of a sudden there was a loud _BOOM_ and a large shockwave that sent both Z and Kairi sprawling on the ice. Then it was silent.

"What was that?" Kairi whispered as if she was afraid to break the silence.

Z shook his head. "I don't know."

"Then why don't we find out?" Kairi decided, getting up on her knees and holding out a hand to him. "Coming?"

He looked at her hand and with a sigh he shook his head. "I don't have any more time for dilly-dallying. I was only intending to take a short break and I've been away from my studies for long enough. I should go."

Kairi gaped at him. "But what if it's trouble again? Or more Unversed like the Duchess of Envy?"

"That was an Unversed?" Z inquired.

"Yeah, according to The King—wait a minute! How do you know about her?"

Z stood up and helped her to stand up as well, looking towards the doors to the castle. "I told you, I've been around the castle a bit and if that 'Duchess of Envy' – as you call it – is an Unversed then things just got a little bit stranger and more complicated than I ever thought." Z put a finger to his chin and stared off into space. He began to mutter again, speaking only to himself: "...If this really is a similar incident then I can't pass up the opportunity to record. Although, it makes me a little uncomfortable to be adding this new dimension on top of my current research when I haven't yet resolved the initial hypotheses. But I should take all opportunities offered to me; I don't know if something like this will ever occur again and I can't calculate probabilities with the insufficient data I have..."

"Are you going to sit there and think about it," Kairi shouted from halfway across the patio, having changed back into her half boots while Z was ranting, "or are you going to come and actually check it out?"

"You go on ahead," Z offered, waving her off. "I've got to sort something out."

Kairi huffed and turned her back on him without another word. She couldn't figure Z out. He seemed kind and patient but at the same time so detached and uncaring. Rather than stand there and figure out Z, Kairi dashed up the steps to the castle where she assumed the shaking had come from. If he was going to act like he didn't care she was going to pretend that she didn't mind.

She pushed open the doors and almost had them shoved back in her face when two guards rushed past her. They didn't stop to look or apologise to her. She stared after them, curious about what could be so dire that they didn't even have time to say sorry. It only reinforced her fears that the castle was in danger. She dropped her ice skates at the door and followed the guards.

They led Kairi to the bright colonnade before the great throne room. Kairi had somewhat avoided the place because it was an outdoor area and it was quite cold. Several guards were gathered on the pink and red carpet with weapons drawn against the threat in front of them. Kairi crept around the back of the group and bent low to try and look between the guards at what had intruded in the castle. Her jaw dropped and she gawked at the incredible monster that had appeared.

The courtyard had been torn to shreds. Piles of dirt and leafless, uprooted bushes littered the little garden area. Up through a hole in the middle of the yard rose a big, dark creature with huge, round, happy red eyes and wide, thin mouth like that of a creepy frog. It wore spiky golden wristbands and a collar and was propped up on one arm while in the other it held another creature. This one was much smaller and had tiny legs but a large upper body with long, thick, gorilla-like arms. The only features on its wide, squat face were the sleepy red eyes and it had disproportionately large curled horns like a ram. A plain light blue collar was fastened around its neck with a golden leash clasped to the front that looped around the fingers of the larger monster at the other end. The bigger monster hoisted itself out of the ground, revealing that it also had ridiculously tiny legs that surely couldn't have held up something so large. It stared down at the guards with that creepy grin.

"Men, look sharp," barked a guard in armour with red trimming. "Our orders have been to hold it off and minimise damage until the King arrives. Don't let it leave the castle!"

Kairi pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. Surely it would be difficult for something that big to leave the tiny space it was in since it wouldn't fit in the colonnade. Since both monsters were Unversed it could be the same thing that happened to Monica – those monsters could actually be innocent people turned into Unversed somehow. The bigger one crouched down as much as its tiny legs would let it to peek into the colonnade.

"Oooooooh!" it cooed. "Shiny armour… MINE!"

It reached out and poked the head of the group with its long, thin, little finger, squashing the guard under the sticky bulb at the end. There was a squelch like something wet being trodden on. The Unversed lifted its finger and the guard with the red trimming was lifted right off his feet, flailing his arms and legs around in alarm. The rest of the guards raised their weapons but hesitated to move forward. The huge Unversed vigorously shook the poor man out of his armour, letting him drop unceremoniously onto the floor while the armour stayed stuck on its finger.

"MINE!" it exclaimed again.

The smaller one in its arms nodded and let its head loll to one side. "Yours," it replied uncaringly, affirming its friend's ownership.

The rigid line of defence that the guards had been setting up began to falter. Spears and swords wobbled and lowered in the hands of their wielders and some soldiers took wary steps backwards. The monster stood up to look around, gazing into each window around the courtyard with a gleeful smile. Through one window it spotted a gilded birdcage with a chirping canary sitting inside.

"Sweet birdy… MINE!" it shrieked. Taking hold of its small companion by the legs, it stabbed the little one several times through the wall and window like a battering ram until there was enough space for it to fit its other hand through. It stuck the cage to the bulb on its fourth finger and brought it out to admire the cage. The poor bird was on its last legs as its body was wracked with shock.

"Yours," the little Unversed agreed, not showing any signs of being affected by the rough treatment.

The guards gaped at the two monsters. All of their faces were as white as sheets, their bodies paralysed by fear and awe as the bigger Unversed smashed through another window to pick out a jewellery box and an assortment of perfumes, combs, hairpieces and make-up cases.

"MINE, MINE, MINE!"

"Yours, mmmnh…" the smaller one said sleepily.

Kairi's mouth opened and closed like a confused fish and her knees wobbled. Even the leader of the guards was cowered behind his troops, armourless and pathetic. The Unversed crashed through another window, stealing a silver mirror. Kairi gulped. Something had to be done and someone had to do it. Looking at the professionals at the moment didn't present any kind of hope.

That's when she suddenly had a crazy idea. It was more of an inkling of a compulsion than an idea but what if she took charge? Seeing the Unversed bash in another window and steal a lavish sofa only gave her more inspiration. She clenched her fists and turned to the guards.

"Hey, weren't part of your orders to minimise damage?" she shouted at them, causing them to whip their heads around and gawk at her. "Look at all of the damage it's doing! If you don't do something now there'll be no castle left to defend."

"B-b-but it looks like a creature of Darkness," a timid soldier piped up, "and I heard that those fellas ain't hurt by ordinary weapons. What'll we do?"

"Even if you can't hurt them with your weapons, provide a distraction so that it won't destroy the castle anymore," Kairi commanded, summoning her Keyblade in a brilliant flash. "I'll try and get up closer to its head and attack it from there. Is that understood?"

There were gasps and sighs of awe from the guards as soon as Kairi's Keyblade appeared. The nervous atmosphere disappeared amongst the guards and all of the terrified shaking stopped as though the mere image of the Keyblade was enough to inspire the utmost respect. The guards all simultaneously stood straight and stamped their heels together, saluting rigidly. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Get to it!" the Keyblade wielder ordered, turning around and running back into the castle, looking for some stairs that would take her to one of those upper windows. She had a duty now and her act of courage and leadership was leaving her exhilarated. Without the monarchy around it seemed she was the last bastion hope for the castle and that very thought excited her. This might finally be the amazing story that she could tell to Sora and Riku. It would be her shining moment.


	16. Avarice and Sloth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is won but hope is dashed.

Dust and debris littered the room Kairi had entered – one that had already been smashed by the Unversed. She ran to the open wall at the end and looked down at the scene below. The guards had entered the courtyard and were swatting at it rather threateningly. Their weapons couldn't cut the Unversed but it was distracted by their presence. She took a deep breath and without warning leaped from the hole in the wall that was once a window and grabbed the Unversed by the collar. She swung back and forth for a bit before mustering a burst of strength to lift herself up and stand on one of the spikes. With a mighty swing of the Keyblade, she struck the creature in the back of the head. It suddenly jerked its head back. Kairi managed to grab hold of the end of a spike, dropping the Keyblade in the process. She watched it fall in horror but when it disappeared in a great flash she remembered that she could summon it back whenever she felt like it.

Shuffling closer to the Unversed with her hands, she summoned the Keyblade again and this time swung it into the back of its shoulder, wedging it deep into the pseudo-flesh. The Unversed shook its body violently as the guards cheered her on. The Unversed growled and used its little friend as a club to try and hit her but missed and injured itself instead. However, as it was dragging the goat-horned Unversed back Kairi was accidently hooked on the leash. She squealed and grabbed it tightly as she was flung over the Unversed's head and found herself staring into its face. Its grin became wider and wicked.

"Keyblade…" it murmured excitedly. "MINE!"

It reached for Kairi with its index finger outstretched while she tried to hook a leg over the leash so that she wasn't hanging uselessly. She paled when she saw the sticky bulb and lashed out with the Keyblade, creating a deep gash that merely closed instantly but apparently still stung. The Unversed's grin disappeared in an instant. It tried again to take the magical weapon. Kairi cringed at the prospect of being touched by it. She stabbed at it. It howled in pain and wrenched its hand away with the Keyblade still stuck in it deeply. When it saw this, the grin returned to the Unversed's face.

"MINE! The Keyblade is MINE!" it shrieked gleefully. With a sudden flash the Keyblade was gone. It stopped grinning and turned to look at Kairi as she clambered up the leash to the lazy one's light blue collar.

"That Keyblade is MINE! GIMME IT!" the larger Unversed roared.

It shook its smaller companion frantically. Kairi hooked her arms into the collar and held on for dear life. The Unversed let out a frustrated growl and swung its friend in a wide arc, knocking down all of the pillars of the colonnade. Kairi curled up as tightly as she could, hearing the air rushing past. Just moving so fast made her dizzy. Then all of a sudden the larger Unversed thrust the smaller into the great doors of the throne room. There was a raucous uproar from the guards as they scrambled to defend it but their ordinary weapons had no effect on the darkness. The rubble exploded into the vast chamber and Kairi was violently rocketed across the room. She landed heavily on her shoulder and tumbled down the red carpet leading up to the mighty throne, stopping when her back hit the podium. The Unversed squeezed through the narrow doorway, leaning on its knuckles like a great ape and dragging the other Unversed behind it.

Kairi rolled onto her front and lifted herself to sit upright, leaning heavily on her left arm as she did. She gave her right shoulder a gentle squeeze and winced at the pain that shot down her arm and up to her neck. The Unversed stood to full height in the tall room, looking down the red carpet.

"I want that Keyblade! It's MINE!" the Unversed growled. It started to waddle down the carpet to where Kairi sat. She got to her feet, holding her left arm over her injured arm protectively. She had to somehow make a dash for it.

In that moment her spirits flattened. _"Gee, some leader I am. I made a big brave scene but I can't even stop this Unversed from wrecking stuff."_

"I'm beginning to think you're doing this on purpose."

Kairi squealed and hopped to the side. Z had somehow snuck up on her – again – and was staring at her. "Do you need my attention for some reason?" he asked.

"N-no!" Kairi retorted.

"Get away! The Keyblade is MINE!"

Z turned to look at the Unversed. "Ah, it certainly is within the specified genus of the Unversed but perhaps a new species? Psychological and behavioural trait similarities between this type and the ordinary types are already apparent and they seem to retain-"

"Z, I have _not_ got time for your science-smarts," Kairi interrupted in frustration. "That thing is trying to kill me! I don't need you around unless you're going to help."

Z smirked at her. "I'm always willing to help you, Kairi." The air around his hands warped and tendrils of white magic twisted between them until they formed a large, black book.

"And no, you can't take a sample," Kairi quickly admonished.

"I'm glad that you seem to think that my Lexicon is just that amazing but it doesn't have the capacity to contain something that powerful for long," Z explained. He opened to a particular page and a potion popped out of the paper. He tossed it to Kairi. "Take that for your shoulder. You'll need your sword arm if you're going to defeat these creatures."

"Obviously," Kairi muttered. She popped the cork with her teeth and chugged it down.

"Now, then, what shall we do about these ones?" Z murmured although he seemed to have already made up his mind. He flipped to another page in his Lexicon. Coloured balls of magical energy in red, blue, yellow and purple floated out aimlessly and loitered about in the air just below the ceiling until they filled the space like coloured stars in the atmosphere.

"We can't kill them, okay," Kairi announced, resummoning Destiny's Embrace. "I think they can be saved like Monnie."

"I take it this 'Monnie' is the original persona of the Duchess of Envy?"

"Um… yeah, maybe… what's a persona?"

"Kairi, we don't have time for learning," Z scoffed in parody. He raised one arm and swiped it downwards, drawing several of the coloured balls down from above to strike against the Unversed.

The Unversed growled and put its arms up to defend against the assault while Kairi dashed in with her Keyblade at the ready. She was dead set on attacking the legs. Then, quite unexpectedly, the smaller Unversed made a sudden move. It lunged itself at Kairi with its long arms, head down to butt her with its horns. Kairi rolled under it. The leash tugged on the larger Unversed's arm, causing it to lose balance and tip, effectively bringing down its defence, leaving more space for Z to land more magical hits. The Unversed regained its footing and lumbered towards Z. Kairi continued forwards and landed a good horizontal chop on its knee. That knee buckled. Kairi furiously struck again and again. The Unversed looked down at her and smiled widely.

"The Keyblade! It's MINE!"

It reached down with its sticky fingers. Kairi ducked and weaved through its legs. It got up to turn around and chase her. With that opportunity Kairi hooked the Keyblade around its ankle. She'd underestimated its strength and her own and was pulled off her feet. However, the Unversed also tripped and fell, landing on its small friend who was too lazy to bother to move. The large one slapped both hands on the ground to push itself up but quickly realised its mistake. The sticky bulbs were glued to the floor. Even then, the Unversed pulled with all its might, slowly peeling its fingers from the polished floor.

Z recognised a chance when he saw one. He flipped through his pages, finding one from which he could procure a pink, transparent decahedron that was so light that it might have been made of fairy wings. A tap from one finger was all that was needed to send it arching high across the room. He turned one page.

"Kairi, stay exactly where you are for now," Z warned.

Kairi pushed herself up. "Wait… Z, what are you-"

Blue lasers shot from the pages of the Lexicon, hitting all of the remaining magic balls. They swelled in size. In the meantime the large Unversed had managed to peel away two of its fingers. Kairi stood up in a hurry to stop whatever Z was about to do. The decahedron bounced on her head and expanded, phasing through her and then suddenly becoming solid. She beat against the transparent walls.

"Z! I told you not to kill them!" Kairi shouted. "Are you listening? Can you hear me?"

"I'm sorry but I don't have the capacity to save whatever original persona existed before these Unversed." The energy balls were now about eight times their original size when Z snapped his book shut. "Unfortunately, there are priorities here and you don't seem to have them in order."

"You… why you… you ass!" Kairi shrieked, clenching her fists and her jaw, slumping to her knees in dismay. They needed more time; surely they could hold off until Mickey and Minnie arrived to help the way they had with the Duchess.

She was distracted by a warm feeling and a throb near her chest. It felt like a gentle heartbeat but normally she wasn't aware of her heart beating. And it was outside her chest. Kairi reached into the collar of her coat and dress and pulled out the moonstone necklace that she had never gone a day without since arriving on the Destiny Islands. It was extremely special to her but she didn't know why. Resting in the palm of her hand it pulsed with warm yellow light on each beat.

Z pointed skyward, giving the command for his magic energy bombs to descend rapidly on their target that had only just successfully freed its thumb. The explosion of all of those energy balls hitting at once shook the castle right down to its foundations.

With the magic spent, the barrier surrounding Kairi disappeared and the smoke gradually cleared. Kairi coughed and waved it away from her face, craning her neck to see around the clouds at the fate of the Unversed. They were breaking. Black flames beginning at the tip of the larger one's fingers and the smaller one's horns burned away at their bodies, razing them to nothing. Kairi dropped onto her hands helplessly. All she could do now was watch them die.

"No… isn't there anything I can do?" she sobbed, eyes shining with tears.

The moonstone glowed brighter, emitting not just light but glittering magic as well as if a supernova had exploded inside it. She rose to her feet and lifted her Destiny's Embrace, pointing it at the disappearing Unversed. The tip of the key glowed and little yellow stars danced around it, concentrating at the tip as well. When all of the required energy had been gathered a bright, white beam fired from the Keyblade. It hit the two Unversed and in another dazzling explosion of white light and shimmering magical energy the darkness peeled away from the bodies it inhabited and burned away. At the end of it Kairi swayed, about to fall.

No one could say how Z had gotten to her side so fast to hook his arm underneath her and catch her fall. The guards were mesmerised by the sparkling transition. Z gently lowered Kairi to the floor and turned her head to look at him. There was something wrong with her eyes. Were they… duller? Or a lighter blue than they should have been? She stared back at him with an old, familiar recognition.

"Ienzo…?"

Z was taken aback. Kairi blinked and her eyes returned to that deeper, clearer blue like the ocean. Nobody had uttered that old name to him in a long time.

"Z? Are you okay?" Kairi asked. "You look out of it."

Z shook his head. "I'm perfectly fine but you seemed to be unconscious after that last spell."

"What last spell? You mean the one you used-"

Z planted his finger on her lips. "No. You don't remember? You just used a very powerful purifying magic."

"Huh?" Kairi said after Z allowed her to speak again. "I… I blacked out, I think. The last thing I remember was that I wanted to save them somehow."

"Congratulations, then. You've succeeded in achieving your goal."

Kairi's eyes widened and she turned to look at where the Unversed had been. There were various precious objects scattered about the throne room – items that the Unversed had stolen – and in the middle of it, piled on top of each other, were a confused Donald and Goofy with spinning eyes and spinning heads. Kairi's jaw dropped.

"Donald and Goofy? Oh my gosh, are they okay?" Kairi exclaimed, pushing herself out of Z's arms and rushing over to the two.

"The Royal Court Magician and Royal Captain of the Guard!" one of the generic guards piped up aghast. "What is this? Treason?"

"What? No!" Kairi protested, seeing the guards raise their weapons and leaped between them and Donald and Goofy. "This isn't their fault!"

"Then how do you explain it?" the captain demanded, jumping out in front of his troops, still in his underwear.

"Um… I don't know."

"Tenebranegenic metacrisis," Z interjected, crossing the floor to stand between Kairi and the guards, facing the guards with a straight posture and his Lexicon tucked under his arm, the very visage of professionalism. "It's a rare phenomenon that usually occurs during times when the powers of darkness are at their weakest. Independent minor discharges of dark energy from insignificant sources are trapped amongst the light and become a miasma which travels uselessly and eventually converts itself by transmuting otherwise harmless vices into tangible form but in order to maintain this – as energy simply cannot just become tangible, that would violate the laws of conservation of matter – it absorbs the already tangible qualities of the host of the vices it controls. Does this explanation satisfy you?"

Z titled his head. If he wore glasses, he would be staring at the guards over the rims.

The captain stuttered and spluttered wildly for a bit, turning a little red in the face. "Why you arrogant…! Who are you? How did you gain access to the castle? What authorisation do you have to pass through here? And on what authority do you make that judgement?"

"I am a member of the Majestic Royal Court of Radiant Garden and junior advisor to the monarchy of the aforementioned kingdom," Z answered without missing a beat. "I believe that gives me both authorisation to enter this castle and the authority to pass judgement or diagnosis of scientific phenomena."

"It sure does," a new but familiar voice piped up.

Heads turned to the entrance of the throne room. Mickey and Minnie Mouse stood in the damaged doorway, Mickey with an elbow in one hand and his head in the other, examining the room pensively while Minnie gawked in awe at the state of the room and the courtyard beyond it.

"It's the king!"

"The king has returned!"

The guards scrambled to rearrange themselves into two rigid lines alongside the now dirty and slightly shredded red carpet and salute, holding their weapons idle at their sides. The captain also scrambled to get to the front of the lines, facing Mickey with a salute.

"I apologise for the state of the castle, Your Majesty," he apologised, turning slightly red when he remembered he was standing in front of his king in only his underwear, "but as you can see we now have the situation completely under control."

"I can see that," Mickey agreed with a nod, marching down the red carpet between the guards to approach Z.

"What happened in here?" Minnie asked, following at more of a wandering pace. "It's such a mess. I'm sorry we weren't here sooner."

"Oh no, Your Majesty," the captain argued humbly. "Don't feel that you have to rush yourself for our sake. As you can see we have successfully brought down the threat to the castle, mostly thanks to Miss Kairi's power and leadership."

Kairi had just been standing awkwardly in the middle of everything, gawking in bemusement at Z's declaration of authority. She suddenly snapped to full attention when she heard her name mentioned.

"Is that so? That's good to hear," Minnie said, turning away from the guard to give Kairi a smile. "Thank-you very much. It looks like you've saved the day and just in the nick of time too."

Mickey nodded. "Any further and the Cornerstone of Light would have been in danger. And thanks a bunch for saving Donald and Goofy too."

"O-of course," Kairi replied, grabbing the sides of her coat as if to curtsy but taking a deep bow instead (after the awkward attempt in the ballet class, she decided she would rather not look like a fool).

"It looks like they'll need some time to recover," Mickey noted. "I'll get the full story from them afterwards. In the meantime, we should just put them to bed." He clicked his fingers.

"SIR!" the guards responded and another mad scramble ensued before the guards organised who was going to fulfil the king's order and carry Donald and Goofy back to their beds.

"And you," Mickey continued, staring pointedly at Z. "You say you're from a court of Radiant Garden."

For some reason that name struck a chord in Kairi whenever she heard it. She knew of the place but the only thing she remembered of it was the dark, decrepit and corrupt castle from the days when it was still called Hollow Bastion. The memories of that place left a terrible sting and ache in her heart that she couldn't explain. According to Sora and Riku it had changed so much from the crypt of evil it had been when it was ruled by Maleficent. Kairi wished she could see it now that it was apparently returning to its former glory. That wish drew out something more in her, something so much deeper like a longing.

"I did say that, didn't I," Z said. "I know you probably have problem with this."

"There is a problem. The courts of Radiant Garden haven't existed for ten years," Mickey said. "Radiant Garden is still under the governance of the Restoration Committee right now. I think you have some explaining to do."

Z smirked. "Maybe so but the kind of information you seek is not the kind that I wish to share." He flipped open his Lexicon, releasing a blinding flash that filled the entire room in an instant. Every occupant of the room was rendered immobile as dots and colours danced in front of their eyes. When their sight eventually returned to them, Z was already gone.

"Guards! Secure the castle!" Mickey ordered. The guards once again scrambled to fulfil the command. "If anybody sees him again report it to me as soon as possible."

"But he can't have gone far," Kairi said, looking around the room and rubbing her eyes to try to get rid of the last of the spots. She was still quite confused about everything that had just happened. "We were only out for a minute or something."

"He's definitely gone."

"Kairi, do you know why he was here?" Minnie asked.

Kairi pursed her lips and fidgeted. She didn't want to think that Z was a bad person. "I… I don't know, I didn't really ask him. He's just turned up a couple of times and given me a hand with some things."

The king and queen exchanged glances and pondered that for a moment but nobody had time to think for very long. Little, squeaky voices interrupted them coming from tiny brown rodents wearing smocks and gloves. They scurried down the carpet, jumping and waving their arms for attention (which Kairi figured they must do to get any kind of attention, being that small and all).

"King Mickey! Queen Minnie! It's terrible!" one of them squeaked.

"It's so bad! It's horrible!" the other agreed.

"Chip, Dale," Mickey addressed each one as they stopped in front of him and leaned on their knees, panting. "What's the matter, boys?"

"Oh, it's our hangar," Dale moaned.

"That big monster," Chip added, "it's ruined everything. All the mechanics are bust."

"The Gummi Ships too. And we'd just finished servicing them all."

"All that work for nothing. We're gonna have to rebuild them."

Kairi froze. She swallowed a lump that was growing in her throat and began quivering. "Are you serious? How long will it take?"

"It'll only take a few weeks to do the ships," Chip explained. "But the hangar will take months to clean up."

"Nothing's flying out of here until the hanger's back in shape," said Dale.

Kairi's knees suddenly went wobbly and her stomach felt sick. As much as she enjoyed some of the things in this world, she still dearly missed the islands and Sora and Riku. She was stuck in Disney Castle without them.

* * *

A little girl in a white singlet top with ruffled straps and yellow shorts sat on the end of the pier, looking out over the sea. She was balanced rather precariously on the edge so that her short legs could reach the rolling waves below. She stirred the water with her feet, breaking the waves and mixing the foam back into the water.

Suddenly something hard hit her feet. She looked down and found a corked bottle bobbing up and down between her feet. With incredible dexterity for someone her age, she plucked the bottle from the sea with her toes, passing it to her hands and standing up to skip back down the pier to the beach, on her way home.


	17. Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After such disappointment, it's up to Monnie and Max to figure out how to cheer Kairi up.

Max and Monica stood outside the pink door of Kairi's room, just back from school (Monnie was even still wearing her blue coat). They glanced at each other anxiously before looking back to the door.

"I'll go in first," Monnie announced, taking a step towards the door.

"Why?" Max asked. "I could go in with you."

"No you can't."

"Why not?"

"It's a girl thing," Monnie replied, rolling her eyes as if that was obvious. "It would be way too weird for a guy to ask a girl about a girl thing." She rapped on the door three times.

"Oh come on! You don't even know what her problem is," Max argued. "How do you even know it's one of those 'girl things' and not something I can help with?"

Impatient as ever, when Kairi didn't answer the door Monica simply opened it for herself. She took one peek into the room and her jaw dropped. In the space of only a few hours, Kairi had somehow covered most of the room with coloured drawings and sketches but without anything with which to hang them, they were all just thrown onto the floor. Kairi herself was sitting at her desk hunched over something. Monnie took her head out of the room and gave Max a pointed look.

"It's definitely a girl thing," she decided and with that she stepped into the room and shut the door, leaving Max outside.

Kairi turned over a golden heart-shaped crystal in her fingers before dropping it with the others – the green one and a new light blue one. She was gathering quite a collection. They all had something to do with the Unversed but she had no idea what. She sighed. Z would probably know. She had begun to wonder that maybe Z knew everything there was to know. It certainly seemed that way but he confused her greatly. She would make it a priority to enquire more about Z the next time she saw him. In the meantime, the dilemmas had quickly piled up. Not only was there Z to worry about, there was also the Gummi Ship situation. She couldn't stay at Disney Castle for months, her entire life was back on the islands and she wasn't ready to leave it yet. She loathed to think how her friends would feel if she was gone for so long without warning, especially Sora and Riku.

"Hey Kairi…"

Kairi squeaked and turned around so fast that her chair tipped and toppled over, bringing her down with it. Monica stared down at her with wide eyes that were both guilty and apologetic.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that," she said. "Max and I just got worried is all."

"You didn't scare me," Kairi replied, standing up and righting her chair so that she could sit down again, "I was just… surprised."

"What happened?"

"You haven't heard?"

Monnie shook her head, then after a bit of thought she nodded. "I can guess. Dad mentioned something about a guy with a magic book who's not allowed in the castle anymore. It's Z isn't it?"

"How'd you guess?"

"It's pretty obvious; you have a thing for him. That's the only reason you would be so upset."

"I don't have a thing for him!" Kairi protested loudly, lifting her head up suddenly. "We just became really good friends really quickly. I don't have a 'thing' for him." She believed those words were true but hearing them come out of her mouth like that sounded unbelievable.

Monnie shrugged, clearly not believing her. "Okay, deny it if you want to." She looked at Kairi's desktop and at the floor. Both were littered with sheets of paper shaded with sketches and portraits. Monica picked one up off the floor. It was a sketchy line drawing of two boys sitting on the trunk of a tragically bent palm tree.

"Who're these guys?"

Kairi glanced at the paper Monnie was examining. She took the sheet gingerly from the Disney Castle princess and gazed at it fondly. "They're my friends," she answered softly, "from the Destiny Islands. It's Sora and Riku…"

An idea suddenly struck her. She turned the drawing to face Monnie and prodded her sketch of Sora. "This is the guy I like. I've had a crush on him for a while. I think he feels the same way… kind of… but I don't have a thing for Z. This is the guy I have a thing for."

Monica snickered softly and Kairi suddenly realised that she'd been tricked in revealing all. She pouted but that only served to make Monnie's smile widen, so she turned away in a huff and tried to get it out of her mind, allowing other thoughts to enter. The pout disappeared and the corners of her lips turned down into a sad frown.

"I was supposed to go back today or tomorrow. But since the Gummi Ships all got destroyed by the two Unversed this morning it'll be months now. I won't be able to see them or talk to them…" Kairi's eyes glistened with the unmistakable sheen of tears. Monnie came to stand right beside her and reached as high up and as far around Kairi's back as she could (she was only a mouse after all and a little one at that).

"Don't worry. Maybe they'll come and find you instead," Monica said reassuringly.

"Yeah, if they're your friends like you said," Max interjected, startling the girls into jumping a little and letting out small shrieks, "then they're probably missing you just as much as you're missing them."

"Max!" Monnie chided.

"What?" Max retorted. "She seems down. And this doesn't sound like just 'a girl thing'; I think she needs both of us to pull through this one."

Kairi could not stop herself from smiling brightly at Max's warm-hearted words, even though her eyes were still sad. "Thank-you."

"Well, then what do you propose?" Monnie inquired.

"Huh?" Max blinked.

"I assume you've come up with a plan that might help, that's why you're so optimistic."

"Er, no…" Max admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "But… oh! I think Donald's uncle also has a Gummi Ship. Next time he's here we should ask him if he'll give Kairi a ride home."

Kairi nodded enthusiastically. It sounded like it was a workable solution but Monica just sighed in resignation.

"I suppose it's worth a try but he's not likely to say yes. They don't call him Uncle Scrooge for nothing."

"It's a plan, okay," Max argued bitterly, knowing she was right. But it had knocked the smile off Kairi's face, defeating the purpose of bringing up the ill-fated plan in the first place. Max cast a glare Monnie's way. She reeled a bit, feeling a little guilty and getting the message that the ball was now in her court; it was her turn to try to cheer Kairi up.

"But it's lots of fun around here too," Monnie added with a grin. "Even if it takes a while to get back to your friends on the Destiny Islands, it's not like you don't have any friends here. And today I saw some people starting to put their decorations up."

"Decorations for what?" Kairi asked. "It can't be Christmas – that's already passed."

"It's not Christmas! In two weeks it'll be Valentine's Day. It's like Christmas just for people who are in love," Monnie explained. Kairi nodded in understanding. There was a holiday like that on the Destiny Islands but under a different name. "We do lots of stuff to celebrate. Like the recital. Our ballet class does a romantic ballet every year. This year we're doing Romeo & Juliet – a romantic tragedy. It ends sad but it's really sweet too. You should come and see it."

A distraction wasn't what Max had in mind but it worked nonetheless. The smile was back on Kairi's face. In any case, finding a solution was bound to take a long time and Kairi needed a reason to smile while she was here. Monica continued to prattle on about the Valentine's Day activities, the customs and – of course – the chocolates and the two friends Kairi was missing were pushed to the back of her mind.

* * *

The tower was old, frail and brittle; not a place where one would want to stand let alone live in. However, the little circular room in this tower had already been made somewhat homely, if a little decrepit. The occupant's bed had an old, wonky metal frame, a thin mattress and a lumpy pillow. The wooden desk appeared to have been salvaged from the very bottom of a junk heap. Not only was it riddled with rot and mould, there were several drawers that were stuck and one leg had fallen off so that corner had to be supported by a stack of bricks. The walls were covered in pin-ups of notes, diagrams and mind maps and against one side of the wall, stacked high on a single, makeshift shelf constructed out of a plank of wood and concrete blocks, were a great many books, a vast majority of them borrowed and most of those without permission.

The occupant himself was currently curled up on an old, ripped, and moth-eaten cushy red armchair by the window, stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger and muttering to himself in a low voice. On the desk his tome was open onto a blank page. Words appeared in black ink and labelled diagrams drew themselves but as soon as they appeared on the surface they sank into the miasma of information within that page's dimension. When he was finished muttering and mumbling the book gently closed itself and sealed its own latch.

The boy sighed with exhaustion and sluggishly uncurled himself, putting his feet back on the floor and standing up. He stretched his back and shoulders languidly as he plodded over to his desk and looked down at his most prized possession, the one thing that he would even give up his life for despite his pitiful state: his knowledge. He stroked its black leather front cover with an almost loving feather-light touch, staring grimly at its silver lettering. It was fading. The images and letters that adorned the cover – front and back – were chipping away like ordinary paint. None more so than that large, glossy and important number:

VI


	18. Fringe Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two dark characters get acquainted for the first time while Max vents about what's not so great about Valentine's Day.

A public skating rink was by no means an ideal place to skate – it was riddled with ruts, rills and bumps and was covered with a thick layer of ice shavings – but Zexion was there anyway. It wasn't like the noise, the people or the general bad quality of the ice could make him feel frustrated or upset or anything. He only thought about it in scientific terms: the physical activity would release hormones and endorphins in his brain that would relax his brain cells and stimulate his thinking, as well as exercise his muscles and engage sectors of the nervous system that controlled his balance. He could dodge and weave through the crowd expertly, even at high speeds.

He was trying to clear his head. Thoughts about Kairi always interrupted him in the middle of his study so very inconveniently. He could rationalise with himself to explain why this was in the absence of emotion (a hangover from his emotional days. His mind still functioned on the memories that he had of how he was supposed to _act_ when he was meant to _feel_ something and thus continued to allow such irrelevant thoughts to interrupt) but he could not find a way to cure it. Being in her presence and fulfilling what he supposed was the inherent purpose of the process didn't seem to work. Perhaps he simply had to accept that as an emotional problem, there was probably no scientific way to deal with it. He wished that bothered him.

Suddenly someone grabbed his hand. An image of Kairi flashed through his mind and he turned, only to find a perfect stranger. She looked fragile with her sheer whiteness and blinked pretty pale eyes with the flat shine of glass in them. She was dressed all in white, including a white Balanchine tutu and a long-sleeved leotard, white tights and a pair of white ice skates. It was too little clothing for this kind of weather, Zexion thought. Everyone else on the rink was wrapped up warmly in coats, trousers and scarves but this tall, slight woman didn't seem to feel the cold.

"Who are you?" Zexion asked plainly.

"That seems such a rude question," the white lady said with a smile. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"I wasn't expecting anyone. Although I did believe that there may have been a small chance that you were someone else when you grabbed my hand. I used to have an emotional attachment to someone and now my mind continues to work as though my prior attachments still exist, even though they can't possibly still exist because I have no heart."

"Isn't that a rather trusting thing to say?"

"I wouldn't say so. That would imply either that it was a terrible secret or something that exposed me to some sort of vulnerability or both. I don't think my current heartlessness is any of the above."

The white lady's smile grew and she skated in front of him, turning so that she could drag him along at her pace while skating backwards. Zexion acknowledged her practised glide, as though the skating was a second nature to her.

"Don't you wish you had a heart?" she asked.

"I daresay that wishing is something for those people who still have hearts. Although given how easy it was to lose it, it has proven, over the years, to be quite a feat to get it back. I'd take any clue I can find that would lead to any scientific procedure with which I could reattach my heart to my soul."

"And what if I told you that I had a way?"

"Then I would like to examine and maybe also test this procedure."

"You agreed so easily," she said in awe, taking both of his hands and spinning around to cross her arms in front of her chest and hold his hands just over her shoulders.

"Is that surprise I hear? Am I meant to be suspicious of this offer?" Zexion inquired, letting go of one of her hands and pulling her around to face him again. "Is this a trap that I was meant to see through much more easily?"

"No, not at all! But most people would naturally be suspicious."

"I'm not most people."

She smirked. "Dance with me."

She let him go and skated a bit faster, taking the centre of the rink and performing a series of spins that wowed the crowd enough that they gave her berth and became spectators. Zexion joined her, taking one hand and lifting it above her head, gliding backwards and controlling her speed. They finished that trick to the applause of the crowd and skated to the edge of their audience together. Zexion supported her at the waist and pushed her along while she did an arabesque, folding her hands under her chin.

"And you still haven't told me who you are," he reminded her.

"Giselle," she replied. "Just Giselle – a Snow Queen."

* * *

The next few days at Disney Castle passed calmly and routinely. With persuasion from Monnie and Max, Kairi left the castle a lot more regularly and marvelled at the predominantly pink and red decorations. It really was like Christmas; there were so many displays for gifts to give to lovers and cards to confess to crushes. The thought of giving one of those gifts to Sora made Kairi blush and get that giddy nervous feeling of butterflies not just in her stomach but all over her body. Her imagination ran through several fanciful scenarios in which she and Sora were frank and open about their feelings. She only regretted that they wouldn't be together for the day, or for a long time afterwards. She kept trying to get stronger and practised her skating every day. By the end of the week she was becoming quite good at it. Monnie even saw fit to teach her how to do an easy spin with both blades on the ice.

Z hadn't been spotted at all. King Mickey believed that that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't around, simply that he didn't wish to reveal himself. The guard was on alert and security was tighter and stricter at the castle. As days became a week, Kairi had honestly mostly forgotten about him. Although that was understandable. There had been a lot going on, not just outings to look at the town and go window shopping. There was a big Valentine's Day festival planned that Queen Minnie and Duchess Daisy were partly in charge of and also expected to perform in. Kairi was surprised and sceptical at first when Monnie told her that the Queen was an excellent ice skater but was pleasantly amazed when she and Monica tagged along at a training session. Both Minnie and Daisy had poise and finesse that Kairi had never even dreamed of. Monica was also busy rehearsing for the ballet that her class would perform during the festival as part of a recital with many participants.

Outside of the excitement, Kairi spent most of her day buried in her sketchbook when she wasn't training or skating. She completed many of the sketches she'd started on the day of the major Unversed attack, adding cleaner lines and colour. Her technical skill became finer with all of the practise and looked a far cry from the childish scribble she and Naminé usually did.

One person who she rarely saw joining in the busy-bodying was Max. While decorations were put up, plans were finalised, and recitals were practised, the regular humdrum of his life continued, only now at more of an inconvenience as he dodged servants and decorators. One morning, while Kairi was in the entrance hall bouncing a red rubber ball in front of Pluto, she noticed him descending the stairs with his eyes forward and his schoolbag slung over his shoulder as though there wasn't a marvellous arrangement of hearts, roses, and cupids all over the room. He seemed so alone at this time. In the streets the citizens of Disney Town had taken to linking arms, holding hands or wrapping arms around shoulders and waists more publicly than ever. Yet Max still traversed the streets by himself. As he started to make his way across the floor, Kairi stopped bouncing the ball and took a few sideways steps to meet him.

"Good morning," she said, putting on a smile.

"Yeah, good morning, Kairi," he replied nonchalantly with a listless wave.

"You're off to school?" she asked as he walked past her.

He stopped and looked at her. "Yeah, of course I am. It's a school day."

"I know, it's just… I'll walk with you today," Kairi offered, feeling that it was the appropriate thing to do.

"Aw, you don't have to go out of your way for me…"

"It's no big deal. I was going to take Pluto for a walk anyway." She shrugged her shoulders in her clean white coat to prove that she was already prepared to go out. "I was just waiting for the guard to finish checking my pass book. He doesn't believe that I've really been in and out of the front doors that many times," she stage whispered, rolling her eyes at the buffalo on duty, who was checking a small book filled with stamps. It was a requirement of the tighter security. "And besides, you've been looking like you need a friend around these days."

Max returned her smile. "Well, there's no harm, I guess. Let's go." He lifted a hat that he'd been holding by the strings and plonked it on his head, letting the ear flaps flop. Kairi took the gloves from her pocket and slipped them on while she, Max and Pluto waited patiently for the guard to let them out.

* * *

The days were getting slightly warmer now. The snow only fell occasionally and didn't coat the ground so thickly. Pluto bounded ahead of Kairi and Max, turning around and squatting on his front legs, waiting for Kairi to throw the ball for him. She threw it and each time he ran to catch it and bring it back.

"So, are you excited for Valentine's Day?" Kairi asked, peering into the window of a dress shop displaying evening gowns.

"No," Max said frankly.

"No? Why not? It seems wonderful and so much exciting stuff is happening."

"It happens every year," Max sighed. "And it's only great if you've got a girlfriend or boyfriend or some sort of significant other to bring along, which I don't have and have never had." Judging by the frustrated tone, Kairi had touched on a sensitive subject and it wasn't going to go down so easily. "Every Valentine's Day is just another day where I stand on the fringe of society by myself and get ignored while everyone has a blast taking their partners to the ballet and the big skating show and the ball-"

"There's a ball?" Kairi interrupted.

"Yes, the animal shelter gets free rent at the castle every Valentine's Day to host a charity ball. It's always after the skating show and they charge twenty-five munny a ticket which all goes towards medicine and food and blankets for all the orphaned baby animals and all that good stuff. But the point that I was trying to make is that I won't be going – again – because I haven't got a girlfriend – again."

"Surely there's someone who at least likes you," Kairi said as they passed through the open arch gate of a park. She tossed the ball towards the frozen duck pond and Pluto loped after it. "You're nice and kind of cute… in a doggish kind of way."

She tugged on his floppy black ears to prove her point. Max pulled on his hat's earflaps. "D'ya really think so?"

"Yeah. You shouldn't have any trouble getting a girlfriend at all."

Max blushed and pulled his hat down harder.

They came to an intersection of two paths and jumped back in astonishment as two young girls ran in front of them screaming. They'd come from the left, the direction of a quaint little park square with a fountain in the middle. The fountain wasn't working, of course, and yet the water in the pool under the dishes was undulating in unbroken dark waves.

"What the heck?" Max muttered, watching pool peak and trough calmly. Kairi gawked at the strange sight. She stepped closer to the fountain, waving off Max's hand when he grabbed her wrist and tried to hold her back.

When she was only five paces away from the dark, ugly water, a balding of ducks waddled out from underneath a clump of dark green bushes. She stopped to let them cut in front of her and watched as they sauntered on around the edge of the fountain. As they passed a glob from the pool rose over the edge and on this glob were a pair of large, round red eyes and a small, round red mouth. It watched the ducks pass by without moving its expression. Kairi took a step forward, suddenly fearing the worst. Then, lightning fast, the tiny red mouth widened to an impossible size. The ducks panicked and chirped in terror as the glob descended upon them and gobbled them all up whole.

In a spark of sudden rage and indignation, Kairi summoned the Keyblade. "Hey! Spit them out you… you…!"

Unable to think of an appropriate insult for such a creature, she watched as the dark water shifted, following the glob with the face. It slid out of the pool with such fluidity that no living thing could hope to mimic it. It rolled and wobbled onto the pavement with the face shifting and sliding over the surface as though it didn't really belong anywhere. A duck had managed to narrowly escape the initial attack and tried to hobble away with a twisted ankle, quacking desperately for someone to help it. The blob morphed to form a tentacle that arched over the helpless baby animal like a cobra waiting to strike. Kairi wasted no time leaping forwards and cutting the tentacle as it darted in for the kill. The severed end rolled up into a ball. It bounced on the ground and then bounced onto the duck. At once its cries were silenced. The ball bounced back to rejoin the rest of the body, assimilating itself as if it had never left.

The big blob moaned and rippled. "Hungry… feed me…"

Another tentacle lashed out towards Kairi. She sliced this one too and the resulting mini-blob continued bouncing towards her. She slashed it straight through the middle and the two halves kept bouncing. The main mass began rolling towards her.

"Kairi, I think we should run," Max called to her, already taking hurried steps backwards.

"Yeah," Kairi agreed with a nod, turning around. Both she and Max ran as fast as they could with the blob rolling after them.


	19. Pete Returns to Disney Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Kairi take on the new Unversed.

They could not run from it forever. This problematic blob rolled and bounced, devouring anything that it could wrap its body around. Yet it chased them relentlessly, even as slower old folks and smaller children barely dodged out of its way.

"Y'know, it probably wasn't a good idea to lead it into the streets," Max pointed out while they skidded around another corner. Kairi was already reaching her limit if her red face and laboured breathing were anything to go by.

"Y-yeah…" she panted. They'd left the park far behind them and Kairi had lost count of how many streets they'd passed.

"Why is it only chasing us anyway?"

"Probably… the Keyblade. All these… dark creatures… always want it… for some reason." Her breath begin to rasp in her throat and it wouldn't be long before she ran out of steam altogether.

Another corner was rushing closer as they ran for it but the redhead was already beginning to feel dizzy. Max dashed right around it easily but a thin patch of half-melted ice caused Kairi to slip. Her aching muscles slackened once she hit the cold ground and stiffened quickly in protest when she tried to get back to her feet. Max halted and turned around, ready to run back but the blob was already upon her. It bounced eagerly over the Princess of Heart as she turned to look up at it in horror. Its descent seemed to be in slow motion and Kairi went cold at the prospect of being devoured. With nothing else to do, Max shrugged off his schoolbag and pitched it at the Unversed as hard as he could. He nailed it right in the middle, throwing it off course and out into the road where it crashed into a four-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse. The whole arrangement tipped over. The horse's sad whinnies were drowned out by the smothering creature as it digested everything that it was in contact with, including Max's bag.

Relief flooded every nerve of Kairi's body. She let her muscles slacken, finally giving in to weariness. The freezing concrete under her ear vibrated and amplified the sound of Max's footsteps as he hurried back to help her up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, flipping her onto her back and forcing her to sit up, affording a glance to the Unversed working through its current meal. "You have to get up now or it'll come and get us again!"

"I don't think I can," Kairi replied, still breathing heavily. Her legs wouldn't respond. She was only able to move them a little bit at a time but even that felt painful; it didn't feel like she was ever going to be able to stand up again.

Suddenly Max grabbed both of her wrists and hoisted her onto his back. She gaped at him in puzzlement before he explained: "hold onto my shoulders. I'll carry you."

The carriage door burst open with a blast of fire. One of the occupants clambered out and kneeled on the doorway to hoist the other up onto the side of the vehicle. They both leaped onto the ground to avoid the Unversed as its goopy mass slid over the rest of the wooden carriage. Kairi turned back to check on the dark creature while Max adjusted her legs so that he could hold her up. She gasped when she recognised the two who had just escaped from the carriage and shook Max's shoulders.

"Max, wait! We can't go yet! Monnie and Mrs Prickles are here!"

"What?"

When there was nothing left of the carriage and the horse the Unversed curled up into a perfect ball and stretched its top to give its face a clearly defined head to peer from. It looked around, having lost sight of its original prey. 

"We have to go back and help!" Kairi insisted, trying to wriggle her way out of Max's grip but her legs felt like useless strips of jelly.

"Even if we did, there's not much we can do," Max reasoned. "We should run to a police station or back to the castle and find someone more powerful who can help."

The blob stretched another tentacle out to whip at the pedestrians, narrowly missing Monnie and Mir. Mir took the little princess by the arm and tried to drag her away but Monica had a determined glare in her eyes. Max also tried to run, however, Kairi was adamant about trying to help and grabbed a lamppost to hold him back. The Unversed flicked out another tentacle to strike. Without hesitation, Monnie raised her fist and pointed the jewel of her ring at the incoming weapon.

"Fire!"

The magical shot of flame burst forth and hit its mark on the tentacle. The Unversed blob screeched and pulled back. Kairi's eyes widened and suddenly a smile formed on her face.

"Monnie's magic! That's it! Physical hits won't work but magic does! Max! Stop pulling me and turn around. We can help Monnie fight this one."

"Okay, but how are _you_ gonna fight? You can't even walk anymore," Max pointed out.

"Why are you so negative?"

Kairi let go of the lamppost and sat up straight on Max's hips, summoning her Keyblade and holding it in front of him. She grinned, confidence filling her entire being. "I'll just stay here. You be my legs and I'll be the sword. This is a huge enemy; there's no way Monnie can tackle it by herself. Let's go! Hurry up, Max!"

"Yeah, I'm going, I'm going," Max muttered, shifting her weight to a more comfortable position and charging up to the Unversed. "Stop being so pushy. This is a terrible idea."

The giant glob backed up as Monica shot another blast of fire at its base, shying away from the sting. It noticed Kairi and Max charging towards it and stretched towards them. "I'm hungry… feed me. The Keyblade… feed me the Keyblade."

It struck fast. Kairi held the handle of the Keyblade tightly with both hands and parried the incoming blow. However, the end of the tentacle flexibly bent away from the defensive move and flicked back, knocking the Keyblade out of the way. It straightened up for another strike. The next one was swift and Kairi wasn't fast enough to dodge or block it. Max lent a hand by reaching up and grabbing the hand Kairi was holding the Keyblade in and manipulated the weapon for her. He blocked and then swiftly slashed it diagonally. A little globule broke away. Kairi swung the Keyblade like a bat and sent it flying in Monnie's direction, calling out: "Monnie! Hit that!"

Monnie looked at the approaching ball of goo and shot a Fire spell at it. The small glob burst into flames which then blackened and burnt out into nothing. The Unversed groaned, feeling the effect of having a piece of its body destroyed. A puff of air escaped Kairi's lips and she gave her 'legs' a relieved smile.

"Thanks, that was close."

"Don't mention it," Max replied, letting go of her hand and giving full control of the Keyblade back to her. "But now we know how to beat it."

The gluttonous Unversed flicked two new tentacles at its adversaries. Monnie warded one away with a Blizzard spell. Kairi leaned back to avoid getting whipped by the other, almost tipping Max off balance. She sliced off the tip cleanly and drew the Keyblade back to make another cut. Monica blasted both of those pieces with Fire. A tentacle slapped her across the side. The impact was powerful enough to send her tumbling. Mir gasped and hurried to Monnie's side, checking her over to make sure she was okay.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Monnie insisted, batting away Mir's prodding fingers. "I only got hit once."

A large shadow fell upon them. They both looked up in horror at the tidal wave of dark mass arching over them with the Unversed's creepy face looking down at them. Monica cast Fire again, burning a hole in the body, which was quickly filled in, while Mir began to fumble with a cufflink button on her left sleeve. Suddenly, Max skidded in front of them and Kairi swung her weapon down hard on the blob creature like an axe, cleaving it in two. The parts separated, snaked around the group and reformed to try the same tactic again. Kairi lunged to hit it again but Max wasn't in time with her and they both collapsed. The blob had almost fully enclosed them with the button that Mir was fiddling with finally came loose. She pushed her sleeve up and held her wrist above them. A silver bangle with a single diamond gem shimmered magically.

"RADIANCE!" she shouted. The entire piece of jewellery suddenly shone like a white sun. The Unversed bulged like a balloon. Monnie charged up a Blizzard spell and shot a large, solid chunk of ice at the stretched mass. It hit the target like a rock pitched at a sheet, forcing the Unversed to peel off its planned lunch and hit the street.

"Oh, goodness. Monica, are you okay?" Mir asked, turning to her charge.

"Yes! I told you, I'm fine!" Monica snapped, lifting herself to her feet and brushing snow and ice off the front of her coat. "I'm not even hurt."

"Good. And how about you two?" Mir turned to Max and Kairi. Max was already back on his feet but Kairi could only sit up.

"I'm good," Max answered. "What about you, Kairi?"

"Yeah… I'm good… kinda."

"Oh dear, can't you get up?" Mir gasped. She kneeled down next to Kairi even though the redheaded girl waved her hands in front of her, indicating that she didn't want Mir to bother. "Don't worry, I have just the thing for this: Curaga."

Mir pointed at Kairi with her left hand and the bangle glowed only softly this time. Orbs of green and yellow light and magical leaves and petals burst from the bangle and the hedgehog's finger to circle and settle on the human girl's body, being absorbed as though that was natural. Kairi felt a slightly uncomfortable tingling in her legs and in other isolated patches on her body where she assumed she must have gotten a bruise. When the spell finished its work she felt a spark of energy and leaped up into a standing position.

"Whoa! I didn't know you were so good at magic Mrs Prickles," Kairi said in awe.

"Of course she's good with magic," Monnie said with a roll of her eyes. "You can't be the nanny of the _princess_ of the _whole world_ without being good at some form of self-defence. Now, let's kill this thing already, it's already down."

The Unversed was pulling itself back together, slowly but surely, weakened by the blinding light of Mir's magic. Monica raised her fist to shoot more magic spells but Kairi rushed over and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Monnie stop! That's still a person inside, I'm sure of it. It's just like you were about a week ago."

Monnie blushed upon being reminded of that. "No it's not!" she argued. "I'm sure this one is way worse. I didn't try to eat you."

"But you did try to kill me with giant statues," Kairi reminded, making Monnie go even redder and turn away. "The thing is though, that wasn't really you and this Unversed isn't really whoever fell victim to its darkness. That's why we have to help. Mrs Prickles, that was a purifying spell, wasn't it?"

"You mean Radiance? It's a Light spell," Mir explained. "It's the most powerful spell I know but it doesn't do focussed damage."

Kairi bit her lip, eyeing the Unversed as it reassembled its body back into a rounded shape, trying to think of a solution to this problem. She felt a small vibration in her right hand and looked down at the Keyblade. The shimmer she thought she saw seemed to be the divine weapon's way of winking at her, sending her the message that it could be of help somehow.

"Mrs Prickles, let's use the Keyblade to enhance your magic," Kairi suggested.

Monnie put her hands on her hips and gave Kairi a confused look. "How is Mrs Prickles going to do that? Can she even hold the Keyblade?"

"Let's try," Kairi said, tossing the Keyblade into Mir's hands. Mir fumbled with the weapon a bit before she managed to get a firm grip on the shaft. However, the weapon returned to Kairi's hand immediately. Kairi pursed her lips. "Then we'll do it together."

"Kairi, whatever idea you've got now, I'm sure it's crazy. You barely know how to hold a sword let alone cast a powerful magic spell!" Max argued.

"I trust the Keyblade," Kairi declared, ignoring Max's thoughts and pointing the Keyblade at the Unversed. It surged towards them, gurgling madly.

"Yummy… the Keyblade… feed me…"

Mir placed her left hand over Kairi's right, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the Keyblade. The weapon didn't oppose this. Mir's bangle glowed with white light. Destiny's Embrace responded by emitting a bright glow of its own, matching the brilliance of the original Radiance spell. The warm magic seeped from both Mir and the Keyblade into Kairi's body, calming her heart. She looked forward, to the Unversed, reinforcing in her mind just why she was doing this. That magical warmth was so entrancing that she didn't realise that that pulse of a beating a heart wasn't her own. Mir charged Radiance through the Keyblade. The magic floated out of her bangle and twisted down the shaft to gather at the tip.

"Radiance!" Mir casted, Kairi lips mimicked her spell perfectly. The charged magic shot from the Keyblade in a ball of light, hitting the Unversed head on and sinking into its body. Seeing that, Max and Monnie feared that the spell hadn't worked. Then, all of a sudden, it swelled into a big, round balloon and burst. The broken pieces burned away.

All that was left behind was someone who appeared to be a fat cat in a strange blue and red suit. Kairi cocked her head to the side. He reminded her of something but she couldn't quite remember what.

"Um… who is that?" she wondered aloud.

Behind her, Monnie sighed. "It's just Pete… again. He's usually the cause of eighty percent of the trouble around here but nobody's seen him for almost a year."

"It kinda makes you wonder what happened to him," Max added. Monnie shook her head.

"I think you can make a good guess."

Kairi nodded, not in response to Monnie's comment but to her own realisation. Sora had described Pete very frequently in tales about his adventures, so she could believe Monnie's accusation about him as a troublemaker. The sound of a siren broke through her thoughts and two automobiles bearing red and blue lights on their roofs and a blue and white colour scheme screeched around the corner.

Monnie snorted. "The police are never around right when you need them," she muttered, "even though the Royal Treasury pays them heaps."

Max was preoccupied with looking around for something. "Um… so… what happened to all the stuff the Unversed ate now that you've turned it back into Pete?"

"Oh no!" Monnie gasped, starting to frantically look around as well but nothing had reappeared. "I left my schoolbag in the carriage!"

"I'm just glad that it wasn't us," Mir said with relief.

"Yeah, losing your stuff isn't as bad as losing your life," Kairi agreed.

"That's easy for you to say," Max retorted. "You don't have to explain to your teachers how a giant goo monster conveniently ate your homework on your way to school."

"Speaking of which, I think both of you are going to be late," Mir reminded them, making them both stiffen.


	20. The Lens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giselle takes Zexion into her abode.

Meanwhile on an eternally frozen tundra, Giselle led Zexion through the halls of her icy palace. Even in his winter clothes, Zexion shivered violently but his interest in the architecture of the building never wavered. He made mental notes about everything he saw but remained silent no matter what. Eventually Giselle brought him to her throne room and stopped him in the middle of it. She held his hand, smiling coyly at him and batted her eyelashes.

"Well? What do you think?" she asked.

Zexion turned an impassive gaze to her. "Your abode is v-very impressive. Ice has b-been known for centuries t-t-to be an effective compression material for load bearing in building construction but never have I-I seen it used in such a g-grand structure and so f-finely d-detailed." His teeth chattered as he spoke. Giselle slipped her fingers out of his palm and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You're so cold," she observed. "I'm worried. You know, I can take the cold away forever. All I'd need is one kiss…"

She put her other hand on his other shoulder and leaned forward, inviting him to close the gap. Zexion put a firm hand against her collarbones. He gave her a light push and returned to looking around the throne room. The Snow Queen huffed and turned her back to him, facing her magic mirror. It showed nothing but the reflection of the room before it. Giselle took graceful steps towards it, almost reaching the steps of its podium when suddenly it shimmered and began to show a moving image. Her eyes widened. It was the red-haired girl, the little mouse princess and a canine boy facing a giant dark mass with simple red facial features. She looked over her shoulder to see Zexion's reaction but his back was turned to the mirror. Looking back to her mirror and cursing its bad timing, she took a step back with a graceful sweep while lifting her hands past her chest, one arm reaching up to the ceiling and the other reaching towards the mirror. Rippled and frosted curtains of ice rose from the floor and descended from the ceiling, meeting halfway and obscuring the mirror completely. Giselle smirked in self-satisfaction and stepped up to the curtain to stroke it with a finger.

"That certainly w-wasn't there before."

Zexion's sudden comment made her jump. She looked over her shoulder again. He was still in his original position but had now turned to face her completely. "There was a mirror th-there, wasn't there?" he continued but she knew somehow that the question was completely rhetorical. "Why d-do you need t-to hide it all of a s-sudden?"

She smiled at him. "I was just practising some of my magic," she lied smoothly. She glanced at him and the deadpan expression on his face. The corners of her smiled dropped a little bit. He didn't believe her. "I can do wonderful things with the snow."

"I can t-tell by the artistry of your c-castle."

She just smiled at him and opened the position of her feet with one arm out in front of her and one arm out to the side. Her toes pointed as she began to pirouette, bringing her hands over her head and using Zexion for spotting. The Nobody watched her patiently and after her third turn she dropped her foot but stayed on her toes to steadily creep towards him with a series of half turns. His gaze remained blank while she gracefully traversed the length of her throne room. When she reached him her leg rose sensually slow. She put her foot down gracefully right in front of him and wrapped one arm around his shoulders. The other remained raised to the ceiling as she lifted her back leg into an arabesque.

"You're strong," Zexion admitted.

Warm, moist mist left his lips in little puffs, hitting Giselle in the face. The warmth was uncomfortable on her normally frosty skin but as it cooled it gave her a cold shiver the like of which she had never felt before no matter how low the temperature dropped and for the first time in her life, heat had begun to bloom inside her. It flared in her heart and the stinging fire travelled through every vein, shocking all of her nerves. She put her other arm around his neck and lowered her leg. She rubbed his shoulders, feeling the violent shivers wracking his body even underneath all of his layers. It made her grimace, knowing that her touch would never warm him.

"You really are freezing," she said, gazing intently into his eyes even though he wouldn't return the intense expression. "I could take that away forever. You only need to kiss me once and-"

"Didn't you h-have something i-important to show m-me?" Zexion interrupted.

Giselle's arms slid off his shoulders and dropped to her sides. She looked down and sighed. "Yes… follow me."

She took his hand again and led him out of her throne room, through the wintry halls and corridors of her home, to a garden that had been perfectly hidden from view. It was nothing like Disney Castle, which had vast lands and gardens that were so grand they were like landscapes. Giselle's garden was small enough that Zexion could walk around the perimeter in just under a minute. It was walled on all sides with white ice bricks supported by round columns, each topped with a glass lantern. The garden beds lined the walls with dark, thorny hedges and pine trees around the back and smaller plants and alpine flowers at the front, none of them in bloom just yet. They were still waiting for the weather to warm, even though it would probably never be more than a fraction of a degree warmer in this place. There was no grass in front of the beds, only stone that was whitened by a thin layer of snow. The centrepiece of the garden was a small, round gazebo in the middle crafted (predictably) out of stone and ice. Giselle pulled Zexion up the steps of this tiny shelter and tilted her head right back to look at the ceiling. Zexion also looked up.

The roof of the gazebo was a large lens, magnifying everything above it. It was held in place by an ice frame that was carved with stormy waves and snowdrops. The dark clouds looked ominously close when one stood beneath it. Zexion's eyes widened but his expression otherwise didn't change.

"I-interesting…" he muttered. "Do you know w-what it's f-for?"

"I don't know what it was _made_ for," Giselle admitted. "But I don't use it often. When the light shines through it, something amazing happens. I know it will help you find your heart. Here, I'll try to show you…"

She pushed him towards the edge of the gazebo. Then she placed her hands in front of her and pushed her heels together. She took a step backwards into the centre of the gazebo as she lifted her arms over her head and then spread them wide. She raised her front foot slightly off the ground and paused, more for dramatic effect than any practical reason. Then she drew her foot up to knee height to begin a fouette en tournant. As she spun repetitively the clouds directly above the gazebo began to twist, opening up a small hole to let the sun through. That little beam was enough. It shone through the lens and the change from mild, white-yellow rays to a rich, golden spotlight made the light seem almost tangible. Zexion's jaw dropped and his eyes widened even more – the first major change in his expression since he'd arrived (he knew that this was just how he was accustomed to acting when something unexpected happened because it wasn't possible for him to be truly shocked).

Under the golden light he could see chains, five golden chains. They were all connected to something inside Giselle's body – her heart, Zexion imagined – and they all trailed off somewhere. They were completely invisible outside of the golden spotlight. They turned with her, never tangling in her body and when she finished with an arabesque, head held high and one hand reaching up to the lens, they slowed gradually, as if they were suspended in water. Zexion stepped closer to her and into the light. He looked down at himself. Chains were also connected to him but his were all chipped, cracked and broken. They hung limply from his body, coiled around his limbs and dragged sadly. The magic was over soon as the atmospheric winds naturally pushed the clouds around and closed the gap.

Before Giselle could return to a base position, Zexion put his hands around her waist and lifted her up. She stayed in position and adjusted herself accordingly. Zexion found himself impressed by how solid the muscles in her waist and abdomen were but focussed his attention on her head as it was held up to the lens. Giselle looked down, catching Zexion's stare and feeling a hot shiver tingling through her body, wondering exactly what he was scrutinising. Eventually he put her down and let her relax but he continued to stare at the lens. Giselle folded her hands over her belly and watched him silently.

"Thank-you," he said abruptly. A dark portal suddenly opened up beneath his feet. Just before it engulfed him, he finally looked down and looked _directly at_ Giselle with a smirk. "I'll be back soon."

The portal disappeared and Zexion was gone along with it. Giselle entwined her fingers and wrung them, smiling happily to herself. She stayed like that for a while, enjoying the wonderful feeling inside until a thought struck her. She rushed back into her castle to her throne room. She ran up to the curtain she'd erected in front of her mirror and did a capering step, not stopping as the wall of ice parted to let her through as if it really was just made of cloth. She took each step one at a time despite her rush and stood in front of her mirror, seeing only her own reflection.

"Show me the girl! The one with red hair, where is she?" she demanded.

The mirror shimmered and her reflection fell away as the scene took its place. It was as though it was being viewed by a bird sitting on the roof of a building. Kairi was walking beside a stout hedgehog while the princess of Disney Castle and the dog boy walked in front engaging in what could have either been an argument or a discussion. They were all safe.

"But does she have it? Did she take it?" she asked the mirror frantically.

The image wobbled a bit as it started to focus more closely on Kairi. The Princess of Heart took something small, orange and shiny out of her coat pocket and flicked it into the air a few times for her own amusement before putting back. The Snow Queen let out a relieved sigh.

"Why am I so worried? I'm not even losing to her," she murmured to herself. As the town scene faded and was replaced by her reflection again she closed her eyes and smiled, trying to etch every detail of Zexion's undivided attention on her into her memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fouette en tournant is a variation on the pirouette but instead of just turning around and around each turn is powered by flicking the working leg out with each revolution. 
> 
> Yes, you need to know this.


	21. A School Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning wraps up, for most people at least.

Kairi gawked at the building that rose four storeys high in front of her. It was a great, red brick building with a concrete staircase leading up to a set of double doors, each decorated with a large pink bow and a red heart, that opened into an enclosed hall lined with doors and lockers. Youngsters who all appeared to be within Max and Monnie's age traversed through the hall casually, in absolutely no hurry to be anywhere soon. Seeing that, Max and Monnie sighed with relief.

"We're not late," Max said.

"Wow, this is your school?" Kairi asked with awe. "It's so different to mine."

Suddenly a bell chimed. It was projected throughout the school building and schoolyard via speakers and its shrill warning caused all of the students in the hall to panic and speed up.

"Okay, now we're late," Max observed. "There's no way I'm going to get to my English class on time! My locker is on the other side of the school."

"Well I don't want to waste any more time," Monnie declared, already walking off. "I'm going to my locker. Bye."

"See you after school," Kairi replied.

Max blew at a lock of hair hanging limply over his forehead, annoyed because he had spent ages that morning styling it to make it look as though it just naturally fell a certain way, only to get involved in a tussle that ruined all of the hard work. "Yeah, I'd better go too. Who knows, maybe having a long walk to my locker will give me time to think about what I'm going to tell the teacher."

Mir giggled. "Good luck, Max. I'd better go with Monica. Even if you're the princess, you still need a good reason for breaking the rules." She waved to the two teens and jogged to catch up with Monnie before she disappeared around a corner.

"Hey, that's a great idea! Max, I can help you explain to the teacher," Kairi said.

Max had started walking but Kairi's offer made him stop and turn around. "What? You'd do that?" he asked with a smile but then quickly he added, "I mean, you don't have to. It'll probably just be more trouble for you…"

"But I'm sure it'll be easier to make a valid explanation when you've got somebody to back you up," Kairi continued. "And besides, I don't really have anything else that I have to do. Everyone's so busy around here so I'm willing to help in any way."

"Well, okay," Max agreed, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking a bit sheepish. Truth be told, he was glad Kairi had decided to insist. "Just try not to be too intimidated by my English teacher. She's a tough nut to crack."

* * *

"I swear it, chief, I really ain't got nothing to do with it this time," Pete tried to argue to the two police officers sitting across the interview table from him.

A slightly overweight, middle-aged senior officer sighed and rested his cheek on his fist. The junior officer, fresh from the academy, glared at the cat across from him, tapping the end of his pen against his notes.

"Then how do you explain several witness accounts that say you transformed from that dark monster – possibly a Heartless, based on the descriptions – after being defeated by an employee of the Royal Family and a teenage girl?" the junior officer enquired.

"Hey! When you say it like that it makes me sound really lame!" Pete protested. Grumbling, he continued. "I don't know. The last thing I remember was coming back into town after my old boss fired me," he whined the last bit, sniffing sadly. "I don't want any more trouble, honest! I just wanted to get me-self a new boat and go back to being a ferry captain."

"And what about the ingested objects and property damage, both public and private?"

Pete stared at the junior officer blankly. "Now look here, I don't know anything 'bout stuff like that."

The senior officer sighed again, making a mental note to lecture his junior about using police jargon in interviews. "What he means is: there were a number of objects that the monster ate before turning into you. What happened to them?" he rephrased for his junior.

Pete scratched behind his ear. "I dunno… but maybe that's why my tummy doesn't feel so good…"

His stomach churned and gurgled audibly, cuing a smelly burp and a loud fart. Both officers cringed and wrinkled their noses as the smells quickly spread throughout the small room. The junior officer packed up his things quickly.

"Okay, I think we're done here Pete," the senior officer announced, standing up quickly. In a low warning tone he added: "for now."

The senior officer knocked on the door to be let out and to signal to the two police officers waiting that they were to take Pete to a holding cell. When the door opened, the waiting officers tried to lean away from the offensive smell that was subsequently released, scrunching up their faces. They let the senior officer and his junior pass before hesitantly entering the interview room to retrieve Pete. The junior officer flicked through his notes for a moment before turning to his mentor to ask:

"So… what do we do now?"

"We have enough information to charge him; the evidence is pretty undeniable," the senior officer decided, gesturing for the junior to keep up with him as he walked briskly through the halls of the station. "Although I suppose that The King might want a copy of this."

"The King! Why?"

"The Royal Guard is conducting their own investigation into a number of similar incidents that have occurred at the castle. Any extra info they can get, they'll appreciate." The senior officer stopped at his office door and turned around. "I'll leave that responsibility to you."

He opened his door and shut it quickly behind him. The junior officer sighed, realising that he'd been set with the most menial task (again) and turned to go and do his appointed job.

* * *

Max's English teacher really was as difficult to deal with as he'd suggested. When Max walked into the room with nothing but the spare stationery and notepad that he kept in his locker and Kairi standing beside him, she'd narrowed her eyes at them suspiciously and snapped at Max for being late. It took a great deal of persuasion from Kairi to get the teacher to let him off on this one and the mere five minute ordeal had seemed to have somehow drained a day's worth of energy. On the teacher's orders, Kairi left the school. She stepped out onto the steps leading up to the building and sat down on them, heaving a big sigh that turned into a cloud of mist and wondering why Max's teacher thought visiting a public school with a friend was trespassing.

It had somehow gotten colder than it was in the morning. The clouds had gathered thickly. The island girl knew that big dark clouds like that meant bad weather, usually rain or, as she now knew, snow. However, she still got that feeling sometimes that she'd known that all along and something in her gut told her that there was no chance that it was going to rain today. She leaned back against the steps behind her and blew out more air, watching the cloud of steam it formed in front of her lips with amusement. If there was going to be bad weather on the way then she ought to move. Since it had gotten so cold that even her coat and scarf were losing their effect she stood up and dusted herself off.

"Okay, we should go home now Plu…to…" she trailed off. She'd completely forgotten about Pluto. The lanky dog hadn't followed her after she and Max fled from the park. She clapped her gloved hands over her mouth as she drew in a sharp gasp. What if Pluto had been eaten? She hoped that hadn't been the case and hurried down the steps, forgetting about Max's uptight teacher and running down the street, calling for the lost dog.


	22. The Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Pluto takes Kairi to a library.

Kairi jogged up and down streets, peering down alleys and calling for the dog to come out. She stopped every now and again to describe Pluto to someone and ask if they'd seen a dog matching that description. They always shook their heads, leaving Kairi with a deepening pit of dread in her stomach. The thought of that weird but wonderful dog, which had tried its best to save her from that Nobody, being eaten by another creature of darkness was almost too terrible to bear.

Her search eventually led her to a small city square with a frozen lawn and leafless trees. It was almost as dark as night and her fingers were going numb from the cold. At one end of the square were long concrete steps leading up to a colonnade. A sign was written on the roof of the large veranda, the carefully painted typography reading: Public Library. Thinking it would be a good idea to warm up before doing any more searching Kairi hurried up those steps and entered through the building's revolving doors.

The library was warm and furnished with cosy chairs, tables, and beanbags spaced intermittently around and between the bookshelves. A few staff members were working behind the front desk sorting through electronic records of books that had been returned and checking books out to people from all walks of life. The shelves were all lined up in an orderly manner between the sturdy columns that held the upper storeys up. The large room was lit by rows upon rows of fluorescent lights, making the whole place bright despite the darkness outside.

Kairi eventually became too warm wearing her gloves, coat and scarf so she took them off and cradled them in her arms while she walked through and around the shelves, glancing idly at the available books. There wasn't much that she could tell you, though; just looking at the spine didn't reveal a whole lot about a book unless the title printed there was particularly riveting. At some stage she figured that she had wandered into a non-fiction section because all of a sudden even the titles weren't all that fascinating. In fact, she could barely comprehend some of them: _Cognitive Psychology in Adolescents_ , _The Id and I_ , _Placebo: An Encyclopaedia of Psychosomatic Medicine_ , _Psychoneuroimmunology for Beginners_. She picked up _Psychoneuroimmunology for Beginners_ – a thick book that was just as heavy as it looked – which had piqued her interest mainly because of that amazing long word that made her head spin just trying to read it and thinking that reading this tome might educate her a bit on what the word meant since it did say that it was for beginners. Both of the books on the shelf behind it were taken down and the face on the other side made Kairi drop her book. The heavy volume fell face flat on the floor with a loud thump somewhat muffled by the carpet. The person on the other side looked up from the books he was examining and put a finger to his lips, giving her a slightly mocking smirk. People passing her aisle gave her disapproving looks and her face heated up in embarrassment. She looked straight at the boy in the aisle across from her.

"Please don't go anywhere," she whispered to him. She crouched down to pick up the book she'd dropped and stood up. He was still there. "Z…"

"Yes?" he said nonchalantly, turning back to his books.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for books and journals to use as research material," he answered calmly, noticing (but not letting on about) the panicked edge to Kairi's voice.

"You're in trouble."

"I know. I'm a wanted man. At least, within the castle grounds I am."

"Oh… okay."

Kairi looked down at the heavy book in her hands for a moment. She'd put Z out of her mind for a whole week and now that he was here in front of her again what was she supposed to say? So far Z had always managed to prove what she suspected: that he knew everything and nothing would surprise him. She looked up to the gap in the books and found that his face had disappeared. She gasped. Not wanting to lose him this time, she dashed to the end of the aisle. It briefly occurred to her that he might have performed that mysterious disappearing trick again or that he had walked off to the other end of the shelf and she had no hope of running into him but she stepped out of the aisle almost at the exact time that he did. He was carrying a small stack of five books, none of which were as hefty as _Psychoneuroimmunology for Beginners_. He glanced at the book in her hands and raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you were into psychology," he commented. "I was under the impression that science bored you."

Kairi suddenly realised that she was still carrying the book. She gaped at her own hands and looked around wildly for a moment, not knowing what to do. She turned to go back down the aisle and try to find the place where she'd found it but Z interrupted:

"Just put it here." He patted the trolley that was parked close to the solid side of the shelf. It only had a small collection of miscellaneous books piled haphazardly on top of it. Kairi giggled and put the book down on the trolley, feeling silly for not noticing it sooner.

"Thanks," she muttered. As an afterthought, she added: "So… is that psycha-nero-innam-"

"Psychoneuroimmunology," Z corrected her.

"Um, yeah, that… that's just another way of saying psychology?"

"No. Psychoneuroimmunology is an interdisciplinary branch of both psychology and medicine that studies the interactions and relationships between psychological processes and the body's nervous and immune systems. It's commonly abbreviated to 'PNI' for simplicity. I think that's enough of an explanation for you."

Kairi nodded, unsure of whether to be angry at the stab to her intellect or flattered that Z had remembered to abbreviate himself for her sake. In the end, she decided on the latter and smiled at him. "Gee, if I had you around all the time I bet I would never have to read another book ever again."

"I know a lot of things but I don't know everything," Z reminded her.

"But still, it would be nice if I were that smart."

"Intelligence isn't measured by how much factual information one can remember," Z said. "At least, I don't think it is. Real intelligence comes from the utilisation of higher order cognitive skills that help people to evaluate elements of their environment and synthesise information in a way that is useful for designing solutions to various problems and generating creative ideas even when there aren't any problems."

"Er… can you go back a bit…?"

"I think you're smart."

That statement made Kairi take a step back as though she'd been pushed. All of a sudden it felt as though the heating had been turned up a couple of degrees and it made breathing a little harder for the redhead. She turned away from him, putting her hand over her face to hide the blush.

"I… I'm really not…" she murmured. Nobody had ever called her smart. Of all the compliments she had ever received from anyone in her life – including Sora and Riku – she had never been praised for intelligence.

"You are," Z insisted. "Anyway, I'm done. It was a pleasure meeting you again."

He turned on his heel and began the walk to the front desk.

"Wait!"

Z stopped and looked over his shoulder. Kairi fidgeted with her clothes; unsure of what it was she had wanted to stop him for.

"Um… I don't suppose you've seen Pluto around, have you?"

"Pluto? Isn't that the dog that lives at Disney Castle?"

Kairi nodded. "I took him for a walk this morning but then this big Unversed showed up and caused trouble and I lost him. I hope he wasn't eaten…"

Z furrowed his eyebrows. "An Unversed? Was it another one like those that appeared at the castle?"

Kairi nodded again.

He sighed. "Damn, I missed it, then. There's a research opportunity gone to waste."

The redhead huffed. "Why do you only ever think about research? Why don't you think about all of the innocent people who got hurt and had some of their stuff eaten?"

"There's nothing I can do for them now. My research is my top priority at the moment."

"Why though?"

"Because…" Z stopped himself. He looked away from Kairi's expectant face.

"Because…" she prompted.

"Never mind. You're probably right," he relented. "And no, I haven't seen Pluto."

Kairi looked down at the hem of her dress dejectedly. A little taunting voice in her imagination sang: _"he's been eaten! He's been eaten! You lost the royal pet and now he's been eaten! Way to go, Kairi."_

"Would you like me to help?"

Kairi looked up in surprise. Z was looking at her again and he nodded. "I'll help you find him after I check these books out," he reiterated, continuing on his way to the desk. Kairi jogged to catch up and walk beside him.

"I thought you said your research was your priority."

"I also corrected myself and admitted that you were right. So I'll help you."

He dropped his books on the desk and took a card holder out of his pocket to offer his library card. He also took out a metal tag that he placed on the desk for one of the library staff to take. While a lady at the computer scanned the barcodes on his books, the man who was working beside her disappeared into a small room behind them labelled "cloaks". He returned with Z's black coat and a messenger bag that Z placed all of his books in once they'd been borrowed out. Kairi and Z put their warmer layers back on before going outside again to continue Kairi's search. On the way down the steps another thought occurred to Kairi. She tapped Z on the shoulder for his attention.

"Z, why do you always help me?"

"I've already told you, I'm not stalking you."

"I wasn't going to say anything about that. I mean it. Why do you always help me? When we first met you told me that you didn't have to; you could walk away anytime if you want to. So why don't you?"

Z remained silent.

"I was thinking about something… Z, do we know each other?"

The question was met with more silence at first but Z gave her a brief glance to acknowledge it. He considered his answer very carefully before he responded:

"No."


	23. Happy 100th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pluto case is solved! Hooray!

At Z's suggestion, he and Kairi returned to the park where Kairi last remembered Pluto being at her side. They split up and scoured the park for an hour, checking behind trees and bushes and in garden beds but there was no sign of the dog. When they met up at the gate Kairi was chewing her fingernails anxiously, wide-eyed and looking as though she was about to cry. Z sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't cry, I think he's okay," he told her.

"How can you be sure?"

"Well, I can't be one-hundred percent certain," Z admitted, "but I believe Pluto would have survived somehow. I've only ever heard of him but from what I can gather he must be an old dog. You don't get to survive to old age if you're stupid enough to stand in front of a monster and get eaten."

It was a lame and half-baked excuse that Z didn't apologise for. The distraught expression on Kairi's face lessened in intensity but she was still extremely worried. "I'm going to be in trouble, aren't I?" she asked.

"I don't know how things work at Disney Castle but certainly seems that way," Z replied unhelpfully. "You lost the Royal Family's beloved pet and it might be dead. So yes, I can envision you being in a lot of trouble."

"Shut up! Let's just leave, he's not here," Kairi snapped, stomping past Z in a huff. Z noticed her biting her lip and tears shining in her eyes as she went. He followed a few steps behind her until they rounded the corner and then he caught up.

"I'm sorry, Kairi, my words were insensitive."

"You should have thought of that before you said them," Kairi bit back but her voice was cracking.

"Let's think logically about this. If Pluto has survived we need to think about where he's likely to be. Where would you try to go if you were separated from people who were familiar to you in an awful situation?"

"Well… maybe I'd try to get help from someone."

"Pluto's a dog. He can't talk to people. Where would you be able to go if you couldn't talk to people?"

"Are these rhetorical questions that you're just asking me for fun? Because I'm not enjoying this."

"I'm serious. Where would your heart lead you? I honestly haven't got a clue right now."

Kairi stared forward, mulling that over in her head. If something terrible happened to her where would she go? Where would her heart guide her?

_Home…_

She froze. It hit her like a ton of bricks. Z stopped in front of her and waited patiently for her to return to reality. All of a sudden she grabbed him by the wrist and started running. He almost slipped as he was whirled around and forced to keep up with her despite the heavy books weighing him down.

"Kairi? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"The castle! I need to get to the castle."

"You can't bring me! I'll get arrested!"

Kairi skidded to a stop but slushy snow beneath her feet caused her to slide and lose balance. Z caught her by the shoulders before she could tip backwards and fall. She turned to look at Z and he shrugged.

"I guess we part here then," he said.

"But… wait… I…"

"Something's keeping you," Z guessed. "Are you still afraid of punishment?"

"M-maybe," Kairi replied, not entirely sure of the answer herself.

Z scanned the streetscape around them and then pointed to something across the road. Kairi followed his finger. It was a phone booth.

* * *

While the King was in parliament Minnie decided that it was time to catch up on some administrative work. She emerged from the quiet study with a small stack of papers for the secretary to file appropriately but found that the elephant secretary was already occupied with the phone. She ambled up to the desk and placed the papers on it, looking up to the secretary curiously.

"May I ask who's calling?" she asked.

"Oh, Your Majesty!" the secretary exclaimed, fumbling with the phone a bit in his surprise. "Forgive me, I didn't notice you come in. Someone is apparently calling from outside the castle… from a public line apparently."

"Were they asking for me?"

The secretary repeated the question for whoever was at the other end. "Well, apparently they're not asking for anyone in particular but apparently it's urgent. Apparently the call is being held by the staff at the phone room but if you ask me, Your Highness, I don't think it's wise to be accepting a call from an apparently unsecured line at this time with castle security apparently as compromised as it is."

"Don't be silly. Nobody would try to threaten the castle from a traceable line. I'll speak to them." The queen held her hand out for the receiver.

"O-of course, Your Majesty!" the secretary replied, putting the phone back to his ear for a moment to say: "Apparently, Her Majesty has requested to accept the call."

After waiting for the reply, the secretary handed the receiver to the queen.

"Thank-you," she said, putting the receiver to her own ear. "Hello?"

" _Is that Queen Minnie?_ " a panicked voice at the other end squealed loudly. Minnie jumped in surprise and the secretary gasped.

"Your Majesty, are you-?"

"Is that you, Kairi?" Minnie asked, cutting off the secretary. "Are you okay?"

There was a thick pause while Kairi talked.

"Pluto?" Minnie suddenly piped up. The dog sat up in his basket bed in the corner upon hearing his name. "I didn't know you went for a walk with him. But he's here now, safe and sound. There's no need to worry anymore."

* * *

At the other end of the phone, Kairi sighed with a small smile on her face. All of her muscles felt like jelly again and she could have just collapsed then and there. "It's such a relief to hear that. Thanks, Queen Minnie… yeah… sure, over dinner. Bye."

She hung up the receiver and turned around. Z was standing outside, waiting for her to finish. She knocked on the door and he moved out of the way to let her out. Once she was outside she crashed into Z's chest and wrapped him in a tight hug. Her shoulders shuddered with tears of relief. Z put one arm around her shoulders and stroked her head with the other.

"You've been stressed out," he stated. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere you can relax."

* * *

The place Z took her was a bakery with a café-like seating arrangement outside, warmed marginally by outdoor heaters. From the outside looking in, the quaint little place was coloured in a shining spectrum from bronzy-gold to a pale glazed yellow. Inside it was much, much warmer than outside, as it would be with the wood-fired ovens going all throughout the morning and left to burn down by themselves during the afternoon. Z opened the door with its pleasant tinkling bell and held it open for Kairi. As soon as the door had swung shut behind them, the two young employees behind the counter leaped over the wood and glass display case and pulled the strings on large party-poppers, showering the couple with streamers and confetti while blowing party horns.

"Congratulations!" they shouted. The older woman standing behind the cash register chuckled at the stunned reaction on Kairi's face and blank look Z was giving. For a while, neither of them moved or said anything.

"Wh-what's going on?" Kairi finally stammered.

"You just won a prize! Duh!" said the young female employee, a freckled girl with a wide, toothy grin.

"What did we win?" Z asked.

"Two tickets to the annual Puppy Love Valentine's Day Ball," the male employee replied, showing his dimples with his huge smile, "awarded to the one-hundredth couple to walk through this door!"

"Since this bakery is providing some of the pastries for the ball this year, the shelter gave us the tickets to help with the promotion of the event," the girl explained. "I'm sure you two will love it. You look like a new couple."

The girl waggled her eyebrows and Kairi went beet red.

"I think there's a misunderstanding…" Kairi said.

"No way! I can tell you two are together," the boy insisted. "You're doing a terrible job at hiding it."

"D-do we really look like… a couple?"

Kairi looked at Z, not knowing exactly what she was hoping for except that maybe he would say _something_. Z returned her stare and shrugged.

"I think the appropriate response in this situation is just to say thank-you," he suggested, putting on one of his hollow smiles that only Kairi was able to see through. The older woman laughed openly this time and Kairi found herself unable to refuse.

* * *

Z bought two croissants, a chocolate one for her, plain for him, and the cashier woman gave them their prize with a wink. The two tickets were tucked away in Kairi's coat pocket as they left the store while she munched on her treat delightedly.

"This is really good!" she said, not bothering to finish chewing before she spoke. "The food at the ball is going to be great if that place is providing it."

"Some of it," Z reminded her, nibbling on his plain croissant.

They walked together in silent companionship for a while, eventually arriving at the edge of town where a stone arch bridge crossed a river with wide levee banks that marked the border between the town and the fields. Kairi stopped in the middle to peer over the railing. The river was flowing quite quickly and the current was almost too strong for the little duck floating on the water, diving down to try to catch a little morsel of food. Kairi chuckled and smiled, peeling some small, flaky chunks of her pastry and dropping them into the river where the duck snapped them up greedily.

"It's not wise to feed wild animals," Z reprimanded her, resting his arms on the rail and looking down at the duck. "They may start to forego their own hunting instincts in favour of harassing people for free meals."

"But he didn't look like he was having much luck," Kairi replied. "He must be cold down there."

"I imagine he is. The weather was a bit weird this year and all of the birds got confused and came home early."

"Came home… from the south?" Kairi guessed. _"Wait, how do I know that?"_

"Yes. The weather in the south got colder much earlier than it ever has before and so the migratory birds must have thought that was their cue to return." Z turned to her. "You look confused about something."

"Huh? Oh, yeah… um… I don't know how I knew that."

"What do you mean? Everyone knows that, it's common knowledge even amongst children," Z said.

"No… not on my islands," Kairi said truthfully.

Z's expression looked confused for a moment. Then he slapped himself in the forehead with the heel of his palm and sighed at himself. "Oh, that's right…"

Kairi stared at Z curiously. "Are you sure we didn't know each other in the past?"

"I'm sure," Z answered, this time without even missing a beat, making Kairi even more suspicious. "Why do you believe that we've met in the past?"

"I don't know… sometimes I just get this feeling," she admitted, looking down into the rushing water, "a feeling like I know things but I just don't remember them."

"Do you think you have amnesia?"

"I'm sure I do. I used to live in a different world. I just don't remember it at all."

"Then how can you say that for certain?"

"Sora and Riku told me… when we were children," Kairi looked up to the sky, blocked by a thick barrier of clouds. "They found me on the beach and told me that they saw me falling out of the sky. From where, though? Riku has always been convinced that I came from another world. I didn't really care but… I think he's right."

Z didn't respond to that and the two of them stood on the bridge in silence. To be honest, he had no idea what to do. He tried to remember what it was he probably would have done but he couldn't muster anything. As a child he'd been much too shy, introverted and reserved; social interaction just didn't happen. There was nothing he could do when he couldn't even rely on his memories. In the end, he settled on asking:

"Are you tired? Do you want to just go home?"

Kairi sighed, nodding her head to and fro as if she was mulling it over and then replied: "okay."

She pushed off the railing to turn and walk back into town. Z followed her, keeping his distance again.


	24. Where is the Sun?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth hurts and it sets Kairi off.

Z only followed her as far as he could without being in danger of being caught, at which point he announced his leave. Kairi grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked at her expectantly but remained patient. Kairi fisted the cloth of her coat and nibbled her lip, trying to find the courage to pop the question she wanted to ask.

"Z… about the tickets we won… did you want to use them?" Kairi eventually asked in a very roundabout way.

"I've already told you why I can't," Z answered.

"I know that you _can't_ but did you _want to_?"

Z tilted to the side a bit, catching a glimpse of one side of the castle behind the corner they were standing beside. "I can't really say."

"That's a stupid answer! Come on, this isn't a hard question!"

"I honestly can't say."

"Then why did you accept the prize?" Kairi pushed. With each question her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows creased even more. "Why didn't you just explain the truth? What is up with you?"

"What's this all of a sudden?" Z's expression still hadn't changed but he took a step back and tried to pull his arm back from her. She wouldn't let go just yet.

"Why don't I ever get straight answers from you?"

"On the contrary, you get many straight answers from me."

"And why do you never tell me about yourself? Why can't you just say what's going on?"

"I have told you some things about myself."

"But it wasn't really important stuff; it was all just superficial. I want you to tell me who _you_ are. Why can't you just do that?"

Z set his lips in a hard line. "Because the truth will hurt."

Kairi's eyes widened. She had somewhat expected an answer like that but to actually hear him say it was another thing altogether. "How so?"

"I don't think I can even tell you that. I know how hearts work, Kairi, they're fragile things. They'll start to break with the tiniest drop of poison and one of the most potent of those is betrayal."

"Then go away."

Z blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Go away. If you're just going to betray me anyway then why bother? Why did you even tell me that?" Kairi said quietly, letting go of him and folding her arms. "You're a terrible secret agent or double agent or whatever it is you're doing."

"Why indeed," Z murmured, putting his hands in his pockets and turning to walk away, not even looking back when he said: "I'm a nobody."

Kairi gasped. Her arms dropped to her sides as she stared at Z's retreating figure in alarm. So paralysed by the fact that she didn't even think to run after him and keep pressing – demanding an explanation. Yet somehow, it wasn't necessary. If what she thought was really true then any explanation he was likely to give would be useless because everything about him already made sense. She turned sharply on her heel and walked back to the castle with her head down.

She had to admit, Z was right again. She did feel betrayed; poisoned. The sting was so potent she thought that her physical body would actually break. Understanding the heart, using that to manipulate people and intentionally hurting them – there was very little that Kairi actually knew about the universe compared to Sora and Riku but she'd learned one important thing:

The creed of the Organisation.

* * *

Kairi was allowed to pass through the castle gates but didn't want to enter the castle just yet. She wasn't really cold anymore; for some reason her whole body had started to simmer to the point that she was beginning to feel like she had a radiator under her coat. She picked a path to follow around the castle and stomped her way around it in a huff. Z was awful. Z was infuriating. Z was…

A Nobody. Kairi picked up a handful snow and started to pat it down. It didn't even make sense. Sora and Riku had assured her that between the two of them the entire Organisation had been taken out; finished.

"He must be lying," Kairi muttered bitterly. "There's no way this is possible, he should be dead."

A new part of the garden that Kairi had often seen from the windows but had never actually been to presented itself along the path that Kairi was following: the gate to a hedge maze. The hedge leaves were long gone but the twigs and branches were so dense and tangled that they remained opaque enough to shield the way to anybody trying to navigate them. She scooped up another handful of snow and patted it together with her original ball as she moved through the gate. Navigating the maze didn't help with her frustration and as she went she added more and more snow to her ball.

"Z is stupid. I wish I'd never trusted him in the first place. He tried to hurt Sora and Riku and now I suppose he's come to hurt me too"

She came to a T-intersection in the maze where two large and currently empty ceramic vases were perched on short columns flanking the branching path. The ball of snow in her hands was already so big that it didn't even fit squarely in both of her hands combined. She glanced at the snowball and then eyed the one of the vases angrily before vindictively chucking the snowball at it. The vase tipped dangerously. Kairi's heart leaped into her throat and her eyes widened as she quickly came to realise the consequence of her action. She dashed forward to grab the vase by the base and righted it before it fell. She took a deep breath and let it out in a gusty breath, feeling her heart calm.

" _What was the point of doing that?"_ she wondered inwardly. _"That won't get me anywhere."_

She sighed and moved on, taking the branching path. She wasn't thinking about the situation logically. There was a multitude of other possibilities that made a lot more sense. Sora and Riku were certain that Organisation XIII was history and she believed them. Nobodies didn't exist just because of the Organisation, did they? She pondered that question as she took another corner and came to the conclusion that it was true; after all, the original members had to come from somewhere. Where though?

Kairi came to a dead end. She glared at the wall in frustration for a moment and kicked some snow at it before turning around and going back the way she came. As she retraced her steps she realised that it was pointless to get annoyed at a hedge wall and felt a little embarrassed. As she returned to her musings she tried to recall what was she was thinking about. It probably didn't really matter exactly where Nobodies really came from, although she recalled something being mentioned about hearts, strong hearts that were lost to the darkness. She wandered through an opening in the hedge wall and followed the joining path going in the other direction. Maybe Z wasn't even part of the Organisation, she'd just assumed immediately that he was. The constant questions and thoughts that circled around Kairi's head wound her up into a huffy mood and she grabbed a handful of twigs from a nearby hedge and tore them from their branch. She unclasped her hand and watched the twigs fall straight down to the ground, leaving only a few of their friends stuck to the wool of her gloves.

"Why do I feel so angry about this?" she asked herself aloud, shaking the twigs off her gloves. "It's not that big a deal, right?"

Or maybe it was because Z knew a lot more than he was letting on and King Mickey wouldn't get so worried as to put the entire castle on alert about nothing. Kairi eventually found a concrete bench placed in the middle of a four-way intersection. Planted on either side of the bench were two messier shrubs that were all twigs and sticks now but might have been something beautiful in any other season. She looked down all four paths but could see no end of the maze in sight. Her sigh became a hot huff and she plonked herself roughly onto the bench, only to regret it quickly. She shifted and rubbed her aching bottom, which had probably bruised from that impact, ruining Mrs Prickles' effort to heal all of Kairi's aches earlier that day.

"Ow… what's wrong with me?" Kairi muttered to the air, not expecting an answer. "Ever since Z left I just can't get rid of this feeling…"

She rested her chin in her hands and propped her elbows on her knees to think. It baffled her to think that Z could be a villain since he'd done nothing but help her whenever he appeared but there was something odious about him that was beginning to surface. What kind of betrayal would he commit? Certainly, revealing himself as a member of Organisation XIII would do it for Kairi but she'd already determined that that was highly unlikely. Revealing himself as a Nobody certainly stung, it made her question whether any of his efforts on her were really sincere or if there was some dastardly plot that only someone as amoral as a Nobody could carry out. Z could have had something to do with the Unversed. Kairi kicked her legs out and slammed her heels down on the ground, glaring at the toes of her boots. That had hurt but she didn't mind it this time. The frustration was building quite unnaturally; boiling to bubbling point so quickly at her core. Perhaps the mystery of Z was far too deep for her to swim.

Overwhelmingly irked by this notion, Kairi stood up abruptly and made a snap decision to take the path behind her – she did have to get out of this maze sometime. She gathered her skirt and turned around to step over the backless bench, giving it a good, unnecessary stomp on her way over it yet unable to put even a scuff on the hard seat. She marched briskly down the snowy path.

"It's not worth contemplating," she mumbled sourly. "I can't consider him a good person anymore."

Something under the snow caught her boot and she tripped, tumbling right down to the ground. She flipped over and scrambled to uncover it, ready to break it in two, but when she actually saw what it was, she stopped. It was a tiara. She picked it up gingerly and brought it up to eye-level to examine it. It was a beautiful piece of jewellery made of gold and decorated minimally with one large lapis lazuli gem. She turned it slightly in many directions, admiring the detailed craftsmanship in the braided gold as it curled up to its multi-faceted centrepiece. Keeping it held in front of her, Kairi flopped back onto the snow and stared up at the tiara framed by the blackened sky. It was such a small thing; it probably wouldn't fit on her brow. She wondered if it was Monnie's.

For some reason, gazing at this tiara reminded her of something else that seemed completely unrelated: the day Z had declared himself a member of the Royal Court of Radiant Garden. She sat up and played with the tiara in both hands, pondering that thought. Something about Radiant Garden made her heart jump, even though she'd never actually seen the place – the true place. The notion dawned on her quickly – too quickly, she thought – that perhaps that was her original world. But she couldn't remember. Any memory older than eleven years was simply gone and perhaps that was why she never really cared or paid notice to what a misfit she was on the Destiny Islands. Not remembering early childhood was normal for so many people and at least she fit in with Sora and Riku.

"That won't always be enough, though," she whispered, talking to no one, "because in the end I don't belong to that world."

She scoffed at herself. "Who am _I_ , really? I keep on wondering and thinking about Z when I don't really know exactly who _I_ am. Or at least… who I was before…"

She held the tiara out at arm's length, looking at it from slightly afar, when suddenly a little flake of white descended across her vision. Kairi looked up and around herself as more flakes floated down to earth from the dark clouds like little white petals on a breeze. It was snowing.

And somehow all of this 'winter' business also reminded her of the past she didn't remember. The season played a tune to her, something that she could relate to but couldn't place. It was slightly familiar but she couldn't recall where she'd heard it or any of the lyrics. Yet she could still sing along:

 _"I've been stranded and alone,_  
_Far from everything I know_  
_And the world here_  
_Is so much darker."_

She stood up and continued making her way through the maze under the gentle shower of snowflakes.

 _"Between the wind and rain and snow_  
_Once upon a time ago_  
_Was there something else_  
_That I lived for?_

 _"Frozen in time._  
_I know it once was mine._  
_But I don't know_  
_If it's something I want to find."_

She held her palm out to catch a snowflake and then brought the delicate piece of ice up to her face to admire the beautifully intricate and superbly unique design. However, the snowflake quickly melted under her breath, such a fragile thing it was. She looked up to the sky it had fallen from.

 _"Where is the sun_  
_To shine its light on everything?_  
_Where is the sun_  
_To warm the world we're standing in?_  
_Where is the sun I need?"_

The previous heat the Princess of Heart had felt earlier was gone and she was slowly becoming chilled. The next dead end she came to didn't frustrate her this time, she simply turned around and tried another route. The white snow on the ground and the dark clouds in the sky made it seem as though the world had somehow been reversed and that light was coming from below rather than above.

 _"I need a light_  
_To guide me to my destiny_  
 _When it seems that_  
 _The path has long been erased_

 _"I can't stop it now._  
_It'll find me somehow._  
_But I don't know what it means_  
_Or where it will take me._

 _"To the end of the world_  
_Or the end of my heart_  
_Or away from_  
_The sun I want."_

At long last the maze ended. The hedge was trimmed and trained into an arched gateway that brought Kairi into a small, round, paved area that was actually a giant sundial. More concrete benches were placed around the edge, following the curve of the natural wall and three more gateways showed that there were other possible answers. The fourth gateway went into a long, straight path leading all the way back to Disney Castle. But she didn't take it just yet…

 _"Where is the sun_  
_To brighten up my heart?_  
_Where is the sun_  
_To show me where to start?_  
_Where is the sun_  
_When the dark clouds have come?"_

She looked down at the tiara she had been fiddling with the entire time. The gold reminded her vividly of the bold rays the sun shone onto the Destiny Islands all year round and she wondered if trying to find her world would take them away from her, as well as all of the other precious things she cherished on the islands.

_"Where is my sun?"_

She took the free road straight back to the castle through the powdery snow as it began to come down a bit more heavily.


	25. I Don't Feel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We cut to see what Z is up to.

It had gotten dark to the point that the streetlamps had been turned on, even though it was still only mid-afternoon. Zexion took shelter from the snow under the eaves of a shop on a little shopping street he'd come across as he wandered back across the town, further away from Kairi and the castle. His clothes were warm but not waterproof and his messenger bag certainly wasn't, so getting it covered in snow was out of the question. He sighed and leaned against the cold wall when he realised that the snowfall was getting heavier, not lighter, and that he might be there for a while.

Zexion let his eyes wander over the street. Even though the snow was beautiful it was too cold to sit outside anymore, so the outdoor tables and chairs were put away, forcing all patrons to get cosy inside. Despite this, a trio of minstrels remained standing on the corner of the street and a narrow laneway, busking for all it was worth. Their clothes were thin and their instruments were worn, even the violin seemed to wheeze as much as the accordion and the cor anglais. At the café across the road two particular customers caught Zexion's eye. Sitting on the stools at the bench in front of the window were a young man and an equally young woman sitting side-by-side even though no other stools were taken. They each had a hot, steaming cup of coffee, which was mostly ignored while they leaned towards one another as if they couldn't get close enough. Zexion furrowed his eyebrows and titled his head to the side as he watched them taking occasional sips from their drinks and whiling most of their time away with conversation. What were they doing?

Perhaps his former colleagues would have been able to recognise the exchange more easily. He'd been too young when he lost his heart; he didn't have time to emotionally mature. He sighed. That was probably the reason why he was able to accept his situation so easily. Not having emotions was so much easier to bear when one didn't have so much experience with them anyway. From what Zexion actually remembered, having emotions wasn't as wonderful as others had told him. He remembered how they used to act and they'd tell stories about how their former selves used to feel but they were rarely stories that he could relate to.

He leaned forward a bit to look over the edge of the eave at the stormy sky above, hoping that those dark clouds didn't let loose a blizzard soon. The clouds were not reflective by any means and yet Zexion could somehow see himself in those clouds – dark and distant, looking close enough to touch but everybody knew that they were much too far away for that. Even his old admiration of Kairi was distant.

Kairi… they were both small back then. Sometimes he watched her when he escaped the castle and the watchful eyes of his carers. Sometimes he escaped just to watch her. He remembered deriving pleasure from those experiences, a morbid enjoyment of just being able to see something that he admired so deeply. Although he didn't know what about her made her so admirable, in fact he still didn't know. He did remember, however, another girl in the town who used to break into the castle, sometimes just to bully him. A very vivid memory that made him shudder (out of habit, not out of feeling) showed her repeatedly beating him over the head with one of his library books and calling him 'love boy' (a childish corruption of the term he now knew was 'lover boy') until Aeleus walked in and dragged her out. Whenever Zexion recalled that painful memory it was always followed by a much later occurrence in which that same girl was shuffling and fidgeting in front of him and telling him: "I like you… not _like_ you, I _like-like_ you."

Zexion had hit her in the face with the book he'd been conveniently holding and ran away as fast as he could. That was what he always did when he had to face emotion head-on, he ran away.

The couple stood up and left the café, each wrapping an arm around the other and exchanging a chaste kiss on the way out. The man tossed some money to the discordant band, giving them only a brief glance before he and his partner hurried off to get out of the snow soon and to a warmer destination. The horn player had the grace to bow and tip his hat even though the gesture went unappreciated and the band decided to continue playing for a little bit longer. Zexion continued to observe the couple until they turned a corner and disappeared from sight, trying to call up information from the many, many, many books that he had read.

"They're in love," he finally guessed. "Or perhaps it could just be infatuation. Hmm… I'd need to have a more complete set of symptoms. Love, infatuation and attraction are such similar syndromes; you never know which you've come down with at first. Although, all three are known to be fatal. I'm glad I'm immune to diseases of that sort. Figuratively…"

Except lately he wasn't so sure. Meeting Kairi again after so long had jump started an ambition he had abandoned years ago even as all of his fellows in the Organisation had retained it: the desire to reclaim his heart. The memory of his former self's awe of her drove him to yearn for it again to _feel_ what it was like. The tired, haunting melody of the trio carried across the empty street. Zexion was the only person outside to listen to it and he couldn't even appreciate it.

"Technically average," he commented on the instrumental song. "I wonder what people usually feel when they hear this kind of music. I wonder what she'd feel…"

He tilted his head up and leaned it against the wall. "I wonder what she feels for me now. Did I make her angry? Or sad? Or scared? I want to see her face now but I'm sure she wouldn't have it since people tend to feel more vulnerable in moments like this. I don't even feel bad about doing this."

Clinical analysis was all he knew of the world now but he wanted more. He let out a slow, deliberate breath, watching the steam rise from his lips.

_"If I touch a burning candle  
I can feel the pain,"_ he lamented, following the band.

_"Outside in the storm and thunder_   
_I can feel the rain._   
_But if she were to smile,_   
_If even for a while,_   
_I don't feel a thing,_   
_No, not a shred."_

His fingers wandered to the windowsill garden of the shop he was leaning against – a florist. It was full of particular winter breeds that didn't mind cold weather while inside more flowers were blooming in the warmer temperatures. The roses, that would bloom late this year because of the weather, were already budding.

_"If I touched a thorny rose_   
_I would feel the prick._   
_I could feel its silken petal,_   
_My skin is not so thick."_

He removed one glove, wincing a little at the bite of the chill, and took a petal of a crocus between thumb and forefinger, callously plucking the fragile thing from the plant.

_"But if she were to cry,_   
_I can only sigh_   
_Because I don't feel a thing,_   
_No, not a shred._

" _I could touch a window  
Or I could touch the snow."_

He dropped his petal and slid his knuckles over the florist window. The frosty glass belied the yellow warmth on the inside. He put his glove back on and flexed his cold-stiffened fingers.

_"It would still feel cold to me  
Just as the North Wind blows."_

A sudden and unexpected gust whipped down the length of the whole street, picking up the falling snowflakes and forcing them to dance, writing awe-inspiring choreography around lamps. The wind passed as soon as it had come and the snowflakes continued their downwards trek but the disturbance still left them aflutter.

_"But the fact still lingers;_   
_I can only warm my fingers._   
_I can't warm my heart,_   
_No, not a bit."_

It didn't look like the snow was going to stop soon. The trio stopped playing and the violinist shook his head at the other two, indicating that it was no longer worth the effort. They packed up their instruments and left the street. Zexion leaned against the wall again and took out one of his borrowed books to start reading. _Unchained Hearts_ – a thesis written by Vexen in his early Nobody days. Of course, only the Organisation knew the author's true nature and now it was only Zexion who knew. While he read the snow kept falling and it got deeper and deeper.


	26. Not Too Late to Apologise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monnie and Kairi make up for past transgressions.

Disney Castle was comfortably warm despite its size. The snow hadn't let up even as the sun sank and the land was plunged into pitch blackness. Kairi stood on the balcony of old palace windows, looking down at the dance studio as the practising ballerinas finished their training for the day. The instructor gathered them in the middle of the room for a special announcement that Kairi had no interest in hearing so she turned and headed downstairs. On her way back to her room, she happened to cross the paths of the ballet students leaving the studio at a junction between halls. They all turned right on their way to the castle entrance but one little black mouse turned left, since she lived at the castle. She spotted Kairi standing right in front of her and waved. Kairi returned it with a smile.

"You're dance is looking amazing," Kairi complimented, clasping her hands in front of her. "You guys didn't even stop or make mistakes this time."

"I know, right?" Monica replied with a grin. "I just hope we can do that well at the real performance."

A few dancers glanced their way and Kairi noticed but this time they didn't giggle. Kairi fiddled with the tiara in her hand.

"Um, you don't mind being seen with me anymore, do you?" Kairi asked.

Monnie blushed. "Uh! Uh, no! I don't really mind you at all. That one time was just… what's that in your hand?"

Kairi smiled brightly, knowing Monnie's intention. The more time she spent at the castle the more she understood the nature of the high society in this world; it wasn't nearly as friendly as the community on the Destiny Islands. "Oh, this?" Kairi held up the tiara, pointing the gem at Monica.

"That's mine!" Monnie exclaimed, reaching for it instinctively but stopping just before she snatched it. "I lost it in the maze a few months ago in autumn."

"That's where I found it," Kairi said, handing the tiara back to its owner. "How did you manage to lose it?"

"There was a garden party as part of the harvest celebrations. Me and a bunch of other kids decided to play this game where we raced to see who could finish the maze first but I tripped and lost my tiara under all the leaves. I didn't even win after that. We tried to send Pluto in to find it but I think he got lost or distracted by a squirrel or something." Monnie put the elegant piece of jewellery on her head where it fit perfectly. It had probably been made specially for her.

Nimble, feathered fingers swiped the tiara from the princess' brow, followed by a dainty giggle. Monnie gasped and turned around, frowning when she caught the culprit standing right behind her with a perfect turn out. She grumbled, "Ernabella…"

"This is quite pretty," the swan girl tittered, spinning the golden headdress around her finger. "But it's a little plain. I would have thought a member of royalty would have a bit more ornamentation on their jewellery. Or is this just your 'everyday tiara'?"

"Give that back!" Monnie demanded, jumping up to grab the tiara but the difference in height made it easy for Ernabella to hold it out of her reach. "That's special! I only wear it at parties."

Ernabella scoffed at that. "You wear this drab old thing at _parties_? Ha! Hardly sophisticated. I expect more from someone of your standing."

The star ballerina attempted to put the tiara on her own brow but stopped when she realised something. "Golly! Look how big this is! I could wrap it around my neck twice." She slipped the tiara over her head and slid it up and down the length of her slender neck to prove her point. "Only you would need something so wide just to fit it over your crown."

Ernabella and a couple of the straggling ballet students laughed, making Monica's face go beet red. Her shoulders tensed and she looked down. Rustling cloth glided by. Kairi stomped right up to Ernabella, grabbed the tiara and swiftly lifted it over her head, clipping her under the chin of her beak with the golden hoop in the one motion. Ernabella huffed in indignation as others in her class chuckled at the exchange. The swan jumped up to steal it back but Kairi's substantial height advantage made that impossible. She harrumphed and crossed her arms in a huff.

"I suppose you're going to want me to pick on someone my own size?"

"Actually, I was going to say don't pick on people at all," Kairi retorted. "Seems like you're not just a pretty good dancer, you're a pretty good bully too."

"I wasn't bullying, I was just making an observation."

"It wasn't an observation that needed to be made, especially when you were just trying to make Monnie feel bad about it," the older girl reprimanded.

"I can't help it if she only feels bad about hearing the truth."

"You totally can! This tiara looks great on Monnie and it doesn't matter how big it is. I can think of a few disadvantages to having a small head."

Ernabella put a hand over her crown, as if the mere idea that it was possible to be teased for having a diminutive skull was scathing. "I'm sure you could try," she bit back. "Although I don't expect anything from the mouth of an Amazon Princess wannabe to have any wit to it."

Kairi's temper suddenly climbed at a dramatic rate far too abnormal for her. She clenched her teeth and bit back a burning impulse to actually wrap the tiara twice around Ernabella's neck while the swan girl smugly smirked as she waited for the redhead's response. Kairi's fists clenched up but when a sudden gust blew through her and chilled her heart she stopped. Her fists loosened as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself, wondering why she'd just felt so strongly about something so petty. The gust also troubled her because it meant that another Unversed was on the way but who knew where or when it was going to show up.

" _Get fired up! Show that bitchy feather-brain who's boss!"_ a little voice in her head vindictively commanded yet oddly enough it didn't sound like her voice; it was like it came from somewhere else.

Overcoming the temptation, Kairi just turned on her heel and handed the tiara back to Monica. "Come on, Monnie, we don't have to stand around here and listen to her."

She sauntered down the hall with her head held high, much to Ernabella's chagrin. Monnie smiled and followed suit, catching up with Kairi's head start quickly.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," she said sincerely.

"No problem. I hate seeing people hurting my friends, even if it's just with words," Kairi replied with a grin.

Monnie looked down at the tiara in her hands, more guilty than glad about what Kairi had done for her. "I'm sorry about what I said to you last week."

Kairi blinked, looking down at the little mouse in bemusement before realising that she was alluding to the same thing that they had been talking about only a few minutes before. "Oh, don't worry about little stuff like that. The past is in the past and I've learned from that mistake."

"But you didn't really make a mistake, I was just being all uppity," Monnie argued, looking up at Kairi sadly, "just like Ernabella was just now. And I didn't apologise afterwards."

"Um… well, better late than never," Kairi replied awkwardly. "But honestly I wouldn't care if you never apologised. We're friends now and that's all that really matters to me."

Monnie looked away but couldn't stop the huge smile spreading all over her face. She tried to cover it behind her hand but she still couldn't hide it. "I just felt I needed to say it. I'd feel bad forever knowing that I wasn't even nice enough to apologise to one of my friends. And, um… since you seem to like our dance a lot, do you want to come to our dress rehearsal tomorrow?"

"A dress rehearsal?"

"Yeah, normally, we're not allowed to bring people other than family to dress rehearsals but I'll see if I can get my teacher to make an exception for you. Otherwise you'll have to pay thirty munny for a ticket. But the dress rehearsal is going to be exactly the same as the real thing – or at least it should be – so that's the next best thing."

"Really? That sounds great! I'll get to see all of your costumes as well?"

"And the make-up. We have to do it with all the lights, costumes, props and make-up to make sure it's all perfect for the performance. It'll be the first full ballet that you've seen, right?"

"Are you sure that's alright? You did say you had to make an exception…" but even as she said that Kairi's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"I can work something out, don't sweat it. And all of the other classes will be there too. Usually the way it works is: every class has to do some kind of performance and after all the performances are done, the advanced class has to do a full ballet but since the advanced class is split into groups they rotate the groups each year."

"Oh, so it's like you have different levels of advanced students."

"Yeah, I'm in the lower advanced group. The higher advanced groups are all so much older and they're so good. The only person in my group who gets to go up to the next level this spring is Ernabella…" Monnie looked down at the ground again.

Kairi sensed the tension in her aura and tried to cheer her up. "Hey, just don't think about her. She may be good at ballet but I know that at heart you're a better person anyway."

"It's just not fair that she's so good, though. I moved up into advanced classes first but she's going into the next level ahead of me. I wasn't able to learn how to do all of those more complicated steps and pirouettes, except for a fouette and I can't even do that without travelling," Monnie moaned, throwing her head back in exasperation.

Kairi stared blankly for a moment, unable to understand the particular ballet terms used there. Finally, she came up with something to say: "I don't think it matters that you can't do things like that quickly. Take all the time that you need. Ernabella won't be better than you just because she gets there faster. So don't be jealous."

Monica smiled and glanced at Kairi. The Princess of Heart returned it warmly. The two of them parted ways at Monnie's bedroom door and as Kairi finally made it back to her own bedroom, it dawned on her. It was Monnie's feelings towards Ernabella that turned her into the Duchess of Envy. It was that one piece of the puzzle that once you found where it was meant to be, several others just fell into place easily but there were still several that were missing. Realising exactly what an Unversed was is only one thing. And with a spike of loathing Kairi realised that there was probably only one person who knew the full story.


	27. Pride and Prejudice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giselle comes back to get up to more evil.

Monica luckily managed to secure Kairi's entry into the theatre for the dress rehearsal but only on the condition that Kairi couldn't go backstage. She didn't mind that, since sitting in the middle of the seating rows and watching the goings on of the stage crew and the dancers as they prepared everything for the next night was fascinating. The theatre wasn't the grandest out there but it was quite beautiful inside, built with classical arches and columns and with balcony seating so that up to one thousand people could sit and watch the stage. A number like that made Kairi's head spin. There was just over a thousand people on the island she had lived on for most of her life and the thought of all of them arriving at one place to watch her stand up and do something made her feel a little queasy.

The light and curtain tests were amusing to Kairi. She'd never been big on the theatre; Selphie was the dramatist of the group. It was all so much more work than she'd thought. Lights had to be checked and rechecked and rearranged and checked again, the audio equipment was tested, adjusted and tested again as the orchestra tuned, curtains were pulled and pushed, lifted and lowered to find the right combination for the show and dancers had to readjust themselves on the new stage, moving their steps forwards, taking more or less steps to one side, working out their entries and exits. It took hours but eventually the call that Kairi had been waiting to hear the most was announced over the PA:

"Full run-through in ten minutes."

The curtain was closed. The house lights were dimmed and the orchestra tuned, starting with fragments from each section and then playing the harmonious hum of a concert A in perfect synchrony. The curtain opened and the conductor signalled for the orchestra to begin for the first performance: a beginner's class of small children dressed as milkmaids and farmhands.

* * *

A romantic piece was being played on the piano in the amphitheatre of the ice castle. The beautiful walls and ceiling looked like they were carved by waves and as Zexion looked up he identified the evidence of shaping by glacial abrasion. The curved surface made a wonderful acoustic space with a stage at the front that was so thoroughly polished that the reflection of the dancer on top of it was perfect right down to the details on the edge of her pancake tutu. Giselle dressed superbly, even for just a private performance and her outfit was one of her most lavish. Her tutu was spared the finest blue satin and tulle, the attached bodice was adorned with frilly trimmings in white lace, especially around the neckline and the hem of the sleeves. It was decorated liberally with ice crystals so polished and refined that they sparkled like diamonds and the same type of jewel was used to create the shimmering headband that crossed her forehead elegantly. Zexion only glanced at her occasionally as she moved, circling the stage in a pattern of brief half turns and pirouettes. She stopped when she came back to the front of the stage, pointing her left foot forward and holding her arms up at her sides. Zexion was still just reading, sitting in the front row but not paying attention to what she was doing.

"You're not watching," she stated, loudly enough to catch his attention. He looked up.

"I have a lot of information to glean from these books. I notice that your dancing is very elegant and your technique is perfect but I need to read over these research materials quickly. It doesn't help that you seem to be speeding things along for no particular reason." He looked down again.

With a flick of her fingers, Giselle drew forth a flurry of snowflakes that convened on her and weaved themselves into fairy-like wings on her back. She fluttered down, pulling her legs apart like she was doing a jeté and landing gracefully in front of him. She leaned over him, putting her hands on the cushy arms on both sides of Zexion's seat and stared down at him. He spared another impassive glance at her before looking down at his text, ignoring her advance.

"You will stay with me once I help you regain your heart, won't you?" she implored.

Zexion shrugged. "I can't actually say. In my current state my intention would be to carry on as usual with activities that are beneficial to my agenda, which may or may not involve remaining in your company. However, the transition from a state of heartless non-existence to one of reincarnation will result in some substantial change in my intentions. For the first time in a long time I'll have emotions to influence my decisions instead of just logic. So it may simply be a matter of the extent of my emotional attachment to you. In regaining my heart I'm crossing into a new dimension of self and the period afterwards is inevitably obscure and uncertain, hence the reason why I don't appreciate you rushing things. I would prefer time to study any resources I can get my hands on in depth before conducting an experiment."

Giselle grabbed one corner of the open book in Zexion's lap and flipped it closed but the Nobody foiled her by slipping this thumb over the page he was currently on, saving his place. "It's important to me that it gets done quickly," she replied. "It's _emotionally_ important."

"Relax. At the moment you're getting your way," the Nobody assured her. "I agreed to plant some of the seeds you required. Perhaps then, you should also allow me to accompany you whenever you cultivate them since observation and original research will be key elements of this project. I'll be available tomorrow."

"Why wait until then?"

"Because I'm reading." Zexion opened his book again and continued where he left off.

Giselle took a small step back and stood up straight, folding her arms. "Either you're coming or you're not," she demanded before turning on her toes and walking away, commanding the snowman at the piano to collapse. Zexion watched her leave impassively and then sighed.

* * *

Kairi was starry eyed by the end of the performance. The individual class performances were impressive and the main ballet left her awestruck. Monnie and the other girls were elegant in their pink classical tutus while Ernabella was completely stunning in a romantic tutu with lace sleeves and white slippers.

It was late when the rehearsal was finally finished. Kairi met Monnie in the foyer as the students filed haphazardly out of the backstage doors to meet parents and guardians. She was clapping and bouncing excitedly, making others in the large room give her odd sideways glances.

"That was really cool!" she gushed when she found Monica. "There was supposed to be a story behind it, right?"

"Yeah, it was Romeo and Juliet," Monnie answered. "It's a really famous play about two lovers who can't be together because their families are enemies but they try anyway. And then they die at the end because they can't stand being without each other."

"Oh, I see, that weird bit at the end was when they died," Kairi said with realisation dawning. "That kind of makes sense now… I guess. But I saw you every time you were on stage. You were amazing!"

"You're not really supposed to pay attention to back-up dancers," a familiar, snooty voice cut in. Monnie and Kairi both turned disdainfully towards a young swan with her beak in the air. "They're only there to decorate the main stars and make the stage look a bit fuller to create atmosphere. They're basically part of the backdrop."

"That doesn't make them any less talented," Kairi retorted. "They were an important part of the story. I think I would much prefer it if they were there that if it were just you and that boy you were dancing with."

"Naturally, but all I'm saying is that playing up their roles is delusional," Ernabella shrugged, a smirk working its way onto her face. "And if you're paying attention to them you'll miss out on all of the grace, talent and finesse of the main star. That's why they're chosen, after all."

Kairi and Monnie looked at each other.

"I still think you were totally awesome," Kairi assured her friend. "Let's go find Mrs Prickles and your mom."

The two girls walked off, blatantly ignoring Ernabella's barbed words again. The main star glared at them.

"Bella! Bella, honey!"

The call distracted her and she turned to find her parents weaving through the crowd. They were both swans, dressed lavishly like others in the aristocracy, flaunting jewellery, expensive fabric and excellent grooming.

"Good evening, mama," Ernabella greeted respectfully.

"Yes, good evening. I take it the rehearsal went smoothly," her mother, a white swan like her, inquired.

"Of course. I didn't miss a step."

"That's wonderful," said her father, a black swan. "I'm sure the performance tomorrow evening will be perfect when we arrive to see it. Now, by the time we return home the cooks should have the supper prepared, so let us take our leave." He glanced at his pocket watch as he said this – an expensive gadget with gilded hands and Roman numerals.

"Okay, I think I have everything." Ernabella looked into her, checking that all of her things were ready. She gasped and pulled out a pair of white ballet slippers. "Oops, I accidently took the theatre's shoes instead of my own. They must still be in the dressing room."

"Ernabella!" her mother exclaimed. "I thought you were raised better than to snatch things!"

"I didn't steal them, I just picked them up by mistake. I'll put them back, just give me a few minutes."

"Be quick," he father instructed. "I want to be home before the supper starts to get cold."

"Yes, papa," Ernabella replied, turning around and jogging back to the backstage doors. She navigated the narrow corridors expertly until she came to her own dressing room; a small but private room with her character's name taped to the door. It was still unlocked so she opened it and stepped inside. She froze.

Inside the room, amongst the make-up, tutus, veils and other pieces of costume, were two strangers sitting on the bench in front of the mirror. One was a teenage boy with a large, black book lying open in his lap and the other was a thin, elegant woman with one of her arms wrapped around one of the boy's.

"H-how did you get in here?" Ernabella demanded.

"The door was unlocked. How do you think we got in?" the girl scoffed.

"This is my dressing room! I hope you're not in here to steal anything."

"Oh please. Why would I want to steal such crass garments and accessories from an amateur child dancer?"

"Amateur!" Ernabella gasped. "I'll have you know that I am at the top of my level and I am no beginner."

"Don't mind her," the boy said emotionlessly. "Compared to her, all of the ballerinas in this performance are amateur. You're not alone in that respect."

"Not alone?" Ernabella snapped through her teeth. "My aplomb is the best in the class. Don't lump me in with all of those other children."

"That's odd, coming from someone who is a child herself," the woman smirked, holding up a pink pair of ballet slippers that Ernabella easily recognised.

"Those are mine!"

"And they're exquisite. They look like the best that money can buy. But just because they're nice doesn't mean you can dance well in them."

"Why you…!"

"Prove it to me, then."

* * *

They took to the rehearsal room – a plain room with a simple, polished wood floor that was lined by mirrors on two adjacent walls. The boy sat on the stairs, watching as the two women sized each other up while they warmed up. His book wrote its own notes, even if all he did was mutter to it. The girls stood in front of each other wearing no costumes, just leotards and stockings.

"I don't see how you can expect to dance in those," Ernabella goaded, glancing down at the tattered slippers the elder girl wore. The signs of broken boxes were unmistakable.

"I didn't feel I needed to try my best tonight. Try to keep up."

She took a step backwards and then raised her arms above her head to do a pirouette. Ernabella matched that perfectly but was still miffed by the fact that the thin, white woman's poise and aplomb were perfect despite the dead shoes she wore. The circled each other with the same pattern the boy recognised from earlier in the day, crossing each other's paths and finally coming to stand in front of each other. Still on the points of their toes, they stepped around each other, going back to back and turning to face each other competitively. They stood so close that they crossed each other's ankles. The white woman smirked when she noticed the uncomfortable expression and slight sweat on Ernabella. The swan girl swallowed and tried to keep a poker face on, even though her feet were already aching from doing all of that pointe work in one go. She tried to assure herself that the other girl's broken shoes meant that she was in far more pain but she wasn't showing it at all.

"Okay, now it's your turn to lead," the white woman said.

They still copied each other almost perfectly as Ernabella led the next movement. They lifted their legs and brought them around to an arabesque with one arm raised high. They leaned forwards, lifting their legs and causing their raised arms to cross. They dropped their working legs and started to bourrée away from each other, still holding one arm up to the ceiling. Ernabella suddenly decided to drop down into a demi-plié, bringing the raised arm down to set her hand at hip height. The woman mirrored that perfectly and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I don't think that's quite right," she taunted, nodding at Ernabella's feet.

The swan girl looked down. Her feet were placed in a non-existent position, ankles not quite crossed, feet not quite turned out and with a gap between them. She immediately corrected her position and glared at the white woman who was poised and positioned perfectly, waiting for Ernabella's next move. Not wanting to disappoint, Ernabella raised both hands above her head and bounced up onto her toes. She stepped gracefully from left to right and then backwards in a gentle three-step pattern, juxtaposing her subtle move with impressive grand battements and then executing double pirouettes, finishing with a plié. The white woman finished in perfect time.

"Mine were higher," she bragged.

Ernabella growled and straightened up, gliding into another double pirouette, ending it with a demi-plié and then changing to a continuous series of turns. The white woman didn't miss a beat and spoke as she turned.

"I wonder for how long you can keep up with these fouette en tournants. We'll count, ready, from five… six…"

Ernabella tried to focus on the numbers to keep herself going but forgot her spotting. Her ankle and foot on her standing leg were throbbing and swelling. Suddenly the bones in her ankle ground against each other painfully and she fell. The pain was acute but it was nothing a potion or a simple Cure spell wouldn't heal by the next day. However, the other ballerina was still going. How many turns had she done? Ernabella couldn't tell. The shadows gathered from wherever they lay and snaked around the room, pulled by an invisible hurricane with the dancing woman at the eye. The rehearsal room grew dark.

Zexion continued to mutter his observations to himself, smirking now as the darkness descended.

* * *

A cold, sharp, powerful gust blew through the theatre. Kairi picked it up straight away and stopped to look just as she was about to leave with Monnie, Mir and Minnie. Minnie also stopped and looked around.

"Kairi, did you notice that as well?" the queen asked. The Princess of Heart nodded. "That was strange. I don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"What happened?" Monnie said. "I didn't notice anything."

"Nor did I," Mrs Prickles admitted.

"It must be further inside the building," Kairi guessed. "Maybe backstage."

"Further inside? What is?" Minnie Mouse asked.

Kairi looked around the foyer again. The parents and students were all leaving but a pair of swans was waiting for a child who should have already been with them. The black swan checked his watch frequently.

"I think someone is definitely in trouble," Kairi decided, already knowing who it probably was. She dashed off to the backstage doors, bursting through them just before the stage hand in charge of the keys was about to lock them.

"Kairi, wait!" Minnie called after her, picking up her skirts and following as fast as a mouse could. The stage hand gaped as his queen rushed by, calling over her shoulder. "Mrs Prickles, just make sure that Monnie gets home safely."

"Of course, Your Majesty," the hedgehog replied.

"No! I wanna see what's happening too!" Monnie argued, darting away after Kairi and her mother.

"Monica!" Mir exclaimed but the little mouse had already made it halfway across the foyer and burst through the backstage door into the guts of the theatre.


	28. Mirror, Mirror, Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi, Monnie and Minnie are here to save Ernabella but the Unversed isn't going to make it easy.

Kairi ran around aimlessly for a while, more confused in this corridor network than she even was in the hedge maze until Minnie caught up and tugged the skirt of her dress – a more practical design than most in her wardrobe but it was still long.

"Kairi, please wait. You don't know where you're going."

"Yeah," Monnie piped up, stepping around her mother. Minnie gasped. "I've been here tons of times so I know the way around."

"Monica! You're supposed to stay with Mrs Prickles," Minnie scolded.

"I know, mom, but you guys would obviously be so lost down here without me," Monnie argued.

"Or maybe not…" Kairi murmured, looking down the corridor in front of her. The royal mice followed her gaze and their eyes widened. Spindly, dark plants were growing out of the linoleum floor. Some of them reached right up and branched across the ceiling, others remained small and bushy but they were all creepy. "Is… is this an illusion?"

Monnie reached out to touch one of the dead-looking trees. "I can feel the bark. I don't think it's an illusion. Or if it is, it's a really, really good one."

The cold wind blew through Kairi's heart, tugging her towards the unnatural forest. "I think this is the way," she said, taking brisk steps towards the plants despite how her heart was thumping.

"How can you be sure?" Monnie asked.

"It's this way," Minnie assured her. "The darkness is gathering somewhere in that forest. Monnie, maybe you should come with us now." She looked over her shoulder. The dark forest was now growing and blocking the corridor behind them. "I don't think it's safe for you to head back to Mrs Prickles on your own."

If the forest was an illusion it was an extremely good one, as Monnie suggested. Kairi thought that there was a labyrinth of corridors and staircases in the theatre but they had all disappeared and been replaced with one slightly meandering pathway that dipped and crested occasionally. It didn't even feel as though she was inside anymore. There was a subtle, white light streaming through the canopy but whenever Kairi found a gap between the branches she couldn't see a moon. The path finally ended at a door. A plain door. It stood in the middle of the pathway, completely out of place and impossible since it had no frame and no wall, it wasn't even connected to the trees. The uncanny gust was blowing more strongly in the direction of the door. Little footsteps behind her let her know that Minnie and Monnie had caught up.

" _If this is an illusion, what's the purpose of it?"_ Kairi wondered inwardly. _"Surely someone who could make an illusion this good could separate us easily or send some imaginary monster after us… or was the point to just lead us here?"_

She glanced over her shoulder to confirm that it was the two mice standing behind her. Minnie was eyeing the door warily and Monnie cocked an eyebrow at Kairi.

"So, are you going to go in or what?" she said.

Kairi nodded, turning back to the door. She wrapped her fingers around the cold handle, gulping as she pulled the door open.

The wind became a gale when Kairi opened the door, streaming through the narrow opening like a plug had been pulled and threatening to knock her down even though it wasn't even tangible. Inside was a strange place that was under the same illusion as the corridors. The dark, grey forest ringed the edge of a lake with a steep bank. A wooden staircase, built into the earth, led down to the water's edge. The water was unnaturally still like it was made of glass or ice. The dark sky went on forever with a dim white glow from a source that Kairi still couldn't find.

Bravely, she took each timber step down to the edge of the lake, eyes fixed on the bizarre apparition in the centre of the lake. It was dancing. Instead of arms it had four black, feathered wings, one in every direction; front, back, left, right. It also had four legs to match those arms, all of them long and slender and dressed in a second skin of black stockings. Three of those legs were drawn up around the fourth while it pirouetted. Like the legs and the wings, the body faced all four directions at once and was dressed in a platter tutu and a bodice made of black feathers and down that grew from its own flesh. On its shoulders were four swan necks and their appropriate heads, all of them bearing a calm expression in their red eyes.

"I knew it was an Unversed," Kairi muttered, summoning her Keyblade without hesitation.

"Kairi, be careful," Minnie called from the top of the stairs.

"Are you sure you can even fight it?" Monnie asked. "You couldn't fight the glob on your own yesterday."

Kairi looked down at the surface of the lake apprehensively. She put one foot down and tried to slide it, feeling an adequate amount of friction that told her it was safe to stand on. She stepped out. The dancing Unversed in the middle suddenly changed its stance, kicking its legs out perfectly as it moved from a pirouette to a fouette en tournant. It started up a gentle whirlwind before finishing the move in a strange position with all of the feet lined up in front of each other, two wings on its hips and two wings above its head.

"That looked pretty disgusting," Monnie muttered.

"Disgusting?" the creature snapped. "Whatever do you mean? My technique is perfect. My turn out is excellent. My aplomb is second to none."

Getting over the initial shock of having actually been heard, Monnie shouted down: "You have four legs!"

"Which is two more than you, my dear." The Unversed brought its raised arms down and shifted its legs into a position with all of the feet perpendicular to each other. "Isn't this elegant?"

Monnie shook her head. "This is so weird."

"I'm not weird, I'm beautiful." The Unversed did a demi-plié and a little spring, lining up its feet again in much the same way it lined them up before but much tighter. It snapped up to stand on its toes and began to march backwards, lifting the toes of all of its legs to its knees. "You're the one who has something left to be desired. How's that deboulé? How about your adagio?"

Monnie blushed. "Sh-shut up! I'm still learning, of course I'm not going to be perfect."

All four the beaks broke out into haughty laughter as the Unversed stopped and three of its legs rose in three different directions, angled perfectly perpendicular to each other. "And that, my dear, is what separates you from me, the fact that you will never be as adept as I."

Kairi gripped her Keyblade with both hands. "Okay, it's pretty obvious that it's you in there, Ernabella. I'm going to rescue you."

The four heads laughed again. "Ernabella isn't here! I threw her away. She wasn't good enough, she didn't have the strength, she didn't have the grace. I do everything right. I'm better than her."

It lowered its front leg and did a grand battement with its back leg and then returned to being perfectly perpendicular. Her next move was an odd bourée of quarter turns spinning her around in tight circles as she moved – a move only possible if one had four perpendicular legs. However, it wasn't the move that had Kairi shocked, it was what was happening on the solid lake. Afterimages of the reflections were appearing as the Unversed moved. When it finished in plié the four images that were created flipped onto the surface of the lake stage. They were all identical to their creator, except that they had no heads at all, just a mirror where the heads would be. They followed their creator through a series of little, springing jumps and jetés as they made their way towards Kairi.

"Oh no you don't," Kairi snarled, dashing to meet the leader of the pack head on with her Keyblade ready. She slashed at the Unversed but it stepped out of the way with a pirouette, finishing with a single leg doing a high kick and clipping Kairi under the chin. Kairi reeled when her teeth clacked together and sent a shock all throughout her skull. She retaliated as quickly as she could with a slash at the Unversed's midsection but she only managed to slice a few feathers. She stepped forward to get in a stab but was kicked in the stomach by the powerful leg of one of the clones. She stumbled back and fell on her rear. Looking up in shock, she'd been surrounded by the four clones and their tight, quick turns around her prevented her from leaving their circle easily. Kairi stood up, lifting Destiny's Embrace to fight again.

One of the four clones stepped into the circle, standing in front of Kairi on its toes, arms out to the side and the mirror facing Kairi. With amazement she noticed that the mirror was just the right height to reflect her entire face. The mirror took on a pinkish sheen and the ballerina clone pulled her feet into a tighter position, lowering to do a slow and graceful battement and push through to a fouette en tournant.

"I'm certainly the best," the Unversed proclaimed, taking the place of the clone that removed itself from the circle. "You're not perfect at all. Just take a look at yourself."

The clone brought its legs in to pirouette, spinning so fast that its features couldn't be discerned. Yet Kairi could still see changes happening. The platter tutu extended and took on a softer quality. All of the black faded to pink and two of the legs disappeared. The clone finished its impossible series of turns with a plié. Kairi gaped. She was staring at a replica of herself in a monochrome spectrum of pink but it wasn't exact to the letter. It had her face and it was wearing her dress but instead of boots it wore pink pointe slippers. The irises of its eyes were bright red and its face was locked into a pitiable expression of hopelessness.

A silver rapier with an ornate knuckle bow appeared in the Kairi-clone's hand. She pointed it at the original. Kairi charged forward and smacked the rapier hard. There was a clang and the rapier was pushed out of the way as the pink Kairi's wrist easily gave way. Kairi kicked her in the stomach and she easily fell. The Princess of Heart stared down at her in puzzlement. The pink girl slowly picked herself back up. She was listless and pathetic. The real Kairi felt a painful twang of her heartstrings but swallowed thickly and steeled her resolve, reminding herself that this was the enemy.

"Hey! Why don't you fight back?" she yelled at the clone.

The clone finally stood up, poising her feet to make a move and raising her arms and the rapier above her head. She did a little jump forward, swinging the rapier down. Kairi easily blocked the move. She pushed the rapier away and directed a horizontal slash at her clone but this time the Kairi-copy put up more of a fight. She not only held onto her rapier this time, she hopped out of the way while bending her legs delicately and whipped her rapier at Kairi. The Princess of Heart blocked the quick but predictable move. The clone glided into a more opportunistic space and swung the rapier to hit Kairi high. It was met by Destiny's Embrace with a high-pitched clang. The rapier swung down to hit low but Kairi blocked that too. She stepped forward to stab the clone but she skipped out of the way in time. Kairi swung her Keyblade in a wide arc after her and slashed her across the midsection. The pink clone cried out in pain and clutched the wound in her belly bleeding magenta blood. The force of the attack caused her to lose balance and she collapsed easily. Kairi gasped.

The Unversed laughed. "What's with the face? Don't tell me that this is a familiar scene. Are you normally that pitifully weak?"

Kairi gawked wide-eyed at the clone. Truth be told, it was familiar; it felt like she was in the battle with the Duchess of Envy again, watching herself and her deplorable attempt at fighting.

"Well? Why don't you finish her off?" the swan Unversed chuckled. "Or are you too weak to even do that?"

" _Yeah! Do it. She's evil. Doitdoitdoitdoit! She's evil,"_ hissed that strange voice in Kairi's head and for a moment she was convinced. She was ready to clench her teeth and hack into the pink clone but the lighter side of her intervened. The pink clone couldn't even get up. The rapier lay on the floor a few inches from her hand. Kairi kicked it away.

Lifting her gaze, she turned to the Unversed and pointed her Keyblade at it. She charged for it, an attack that was parried with a grand battement. She jumped back before the leg could swing down hard on her and crouched. The Unversed stepped out and pulled up its three foremost legs, preparing for a jump. That gave Kairi an idea. She slid across the floor and kicked the Unversed ballerina in the ankle of her straightened leg. It wouldn't have hurt but it did throw the creature off balance. It landed in a graceless pile beside its Kairi-clone.

"Ha! Not so perfect now, are you?" Kairi mocked.

The Unversed harrumphed and stood up, ruffling its feathers in indignation. "How dare you mock me, little girl!"

"Kairi, look out!" Minnie called from the top of the staircase.

The other clones were spinning. Kairi gasped as their skirts all billowed out into something longer and half of their legs and arms morphed away, leaving behind more copies of her. They were all monochrome and had the same red eyes, yet different expressions. There was a black clone wearing a distrustful smirk, similar to the one that a Nobody had once tried to coax her with, a beige clone with an amiable face, and a white clone that had no expression on its face at all.

"Look at you! Look at all of you!" The Unversed shouted, stepping away with its quarter turn move and printing more mirror-headed copies of itself.

"Oh no," Minnie gasped. "Monnie dear, stay here. I have to help Kairi."

"I'm coming with you," Monica decided, dashing ahead.

"Monnie, don't! It's too dangerous!"

By then, Monnie had already made it to the bottom of the stairs. She threw a fire spell at the Unversed with her ring. The attack hit but didn't visibly do any damage. However, it did get the creature of darkness to stop in its tracks and come down to rest in a base position while its clones emerged from the surface of the lake-stage.

"You wish to challenge me, rat?" the Unversed spat.

"I'm no rat! I'm a mouse!" Monnie retorted.

Minnie caught up and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Monnie, your magic isn't strong enough to fight a creature of darkness this powerful. You should have stayed on the stairs." Monica turned her head and grinned sheepishly at her mother's stern, angry expression.

"Whether you are a rat or a mouse, it's all the same," the Unversed said, stepping back and silently commanding her new clones to surround her opponents. "You are vermin."

She bourréed away from the tight circle. Minnie took Monnie's hand and turned around so that they were back to back. "Don't worry Monnie, I'll protect you."

"Mom! That's my ring hand, I need it," Monnie protested, taking her hand back.

"I've already told you, this is a very dangerous fight," Minnie scolded. "You're years away from magic that is powerful enough to win here."

"Maybe not on my own but if I'm helping you I think I can do it."

Minnie sighed. Monica had already primed her ring and it was glowing, ready to fire at the slightest provocation. The queen couldn't helped but be impressed by her daughter's iron will. "Just make sure that you stay close to me, then."

Meanwhile, Kairi stood in a more open circle surrounded by only four. The pink clone got back to her feet, still bleeding. The black clone picked up the discarded rapier that had conveniently ended up near her feet. She raised one hand over her head, poised as though invisible strings on her fingers were holding her up. She pointed the rapier at Kairi. The other clones copied her, silver rapiers appearing in their hands as well. Kairi gulped with apprehension. She could only summon one Keyblade. She lifted it anyway.

The black clone charged in for attack.


	29. All in Vanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Unversed puts up the hardest fight so far.

Kairi parried the first blow from the black clone. She clenched her teeth, feeling how much more powerful this one was than the weak pink Kairi. The black Kairi continued her advance, lining up her rapier to stab the real girl. Kairi pivoted on her heel, narrowly avoiding the blow and finding that she had also narrowly avoided another blow from behind. The rapiers of the black Kairi and the white Kairi crossed and the blades scraped against the knuckle bows. Kairi checked behind her. The beige clone swung down. Kairi ducked out of the way and kicked the clone's feet out from under her. She face faulted spectacularly, almost going end over end. Still, she got back up with brown blood dripping from her nose and still with that amicable smile.

Meanwhile, Minnie cast Blizzaga as an area spell, surrounding Monnie and herself with chunks of ice and snow that batted away and froze advancing Unversed clones. Every second clone cleverly stepped behind a neighbour, avoiding the magic attack and then jumping out from behind them before leaping towards the mice with a grand jeté. Monnie cast a fire spell, summoning a ring that disrupted the clones by tripping them up during their move. They all fell gracelessly and Minnie knocked them back with Aerora. The original skipped away to resume its own private dancing.

The Kairi clones all raised their weapons in perfect synch with each other. Kairi fought back a shudder over how creepy that was but at least now they were all in front of her. The black clone made the first move again, charging in recklessly and swinging down hard. Kairi sidestepped and swung her Keyblade like an axe into the side of her black doppelganger. It hit hard and the clone cringed. The beige clone stepped forward with an awkward, ungainly step. She slashed at Kairi with an odd angle – she was cutting upwards but the sword was angled downwards and to the side a bit. Kairi deflected the unskilful move and took a large step, making it into the beige clone's wide opening. However, that was all she needed to do and the clone leaned backwards and lost balance. She flailed, narrowly missing Kairi with her sword. The pink clone rushed up behind and got a hand on the beige clone's back to push her upright. The beige clone held her sword out in front of her with the point directed at Kairi and when the pink clone shoved her the real girl had to pivot out of the way again. The black clone ran in to attack again but the beige clone stumbled after missing and the two collided, both ending up sprawled on the floor.

The frozen Unversed clones were quickly thawing. The ice crackled as they moved against it. Minnie threw her ring hand into the air, calling forth a mighty Thundagun spell that shattered them before they could break free. The others twirled away to avoid the lightning bolts but many of them still got shocked. A couple managed to dodge the attack long enough to get closer. Monica shot a blizzard spell at one that was skipping towards them. She hit the legs, making it stumble back. She turned around and another had already made it to her, doing a pirouette and kicking out powerfully. Monnie grabbed her mother's hand and pulled her down so that they both bowed under the long-legged attack. She shot a Fire spell into this clone's chest. It lost balance and fell backwards. Minnie attacked it directly with a Thunder spell.

The pink clone closed the short gap between herself and the original Kairi with half turn and used the momentum for another attack, which Kairi ducked under. She lunged and elbowed the clone in the stomach. The pink doppelganger cried again, feeling the wound ache. She was promptly pushed out of the way by the white clone, who wielded her rapier with the skill and finesse of a real fencer. Kairi found herself back-stepping as the white clone advanced towards her with fine strokes that the redhead found much harder to deflect. The black clone shoved the beige one off her and got back up quickly. Kairi barely managed to notice out of the corner of her eye. She ducked and stepped away as the black clone came back with the same rash tactic and crossed swords with the white one again. The white Kairi hit the other rapier away and kicked the black copy hard in the middle, sending her to the floor again, before turning back to Kairi.

"Whoa! I thought you two were allies," Kairi exclaimed, staring at the black clone on the floor.

"Allies, but not friends, it seems," the Unversed said, doing tight little turns in the middle of the lake with her arms raised above her head. She took one bigger step and spread her legs out in an arabesque, leaning forwards so that her legs appeared to almost be a star that folded back to the floor like a fan. "Is that a familiar story to you?"

"What do you mean 'familiar'?" Kairi asked, lifting her Keyblade to block the rapier attack of the white clone again. The pink clone stepped up beside the white one to help, lending another skilled – if weak – blade to the battle but the white Kairi just shoved her out of the way. Kairi stopped back-stepping and hit back hard, disrupting the white clone's attacks.

"What've you got against her?" she demanded, referring to the pink clone.

"Isn't it obvious? She's too weak," the Unversed snickered. "Even if she gave her help, it would be useless."

Kairi gulped, thinking of all the moments when Z had helped her off the ice and she had felt exactly like that. The black clone hurried back into the fight with the beige clone at her side. The black copy directed the beige copy to mirror her, running up to flank Kairi and hit from both sides. The white copy hit from the front, meaning that Kairi could only go backwards. The rapiers clashed. The black Kairi swung out to the side to catch the real Kairi in a counter-stroke. The point of the sword tore through the outer fabric of Kairi's dress, missing her flesh by a hair's breadth. The force of the stroke also ripped the sword out of the beige clone's hands. She bent down to the retrieve it and tripped on her own feet, slamming into the white clone's legs and knocking her down. The white clone kicked her in the face and got up quickly.

The black Kairi kept advancing, able to dodge any of the original's attacks easily with flexible steps. The white clone stabbed at Kairi, interrupting the flow of her comrade's attack and sending her off balance. She regained her steadiness and then stood off to the side while the white clone dodged Kairi's chop, improving her footing for the next step, which was to make a turn towards Kairi's unguarded side. The rapier was raised above her head. She kicked Kairi just under the knees and swept her feet out from under her. Kairi went straight to the floor. She rolled away just as the rapier came down swiftly.

"You don't like to play with others, do you Kairi?" the Unversed taunted.

"If you're implying that I don't have friends, you're completely wrong," Kairi replied, getting up as quickly as she could and finding she had to run when the black clone brashly charged for another brutish attack and the white clone pursued her. The white Kairi got in the way of the black's attack, allowing Kairi to slip past them.

"We play all the time," Kairi insisted, "all of us on the islands."

"All of you? Or just some?"

"Well…"

The pink Kairi returned, stepping into Kairi's path, raised up on her toes. The beige clone had also retrieved her rapier and got behind her. The pink clone leaped forward to stab Kairi. The redhead hopped out of the way and grabbed the pink one by the wrist. The beige copy tried to move forward to help her ally but somehow made the mistake of starting on her back foot and tripped herself. As she slammed to the floor Kairi yanked the pink copy towards her beige friend. She caved easily and tried to at least regain her footing but tumbled over the beige clone.

Was the Unversed right? She couldn't be. Although, Kairi had to admit that she had thought some of the things it had said before she left the islands; she didn't really have 'friends' other than Sora and Riku. Her hands shook slightly. She clutched the handle of the Keyblade with both hands to try to keep them steady.

The beige clone pushed itself onto its hands and knees, impeding the pink clone's efforts to get up since she was piled on top. She was a klutz, dangerous to herself and dangerous to others. Kairi sometimes felt that that's how she was too. She had only just learned how to swing her Keyblade correctly let alone efficiently. Her physical abilities were extremely lacking, especially compared to everyone else on the play island, even Tidus, Wakka and Selphie. She was pretty sure Sora had lied to her in The World That Never Was – she wasn't great at fighting Shadows, Riku did most of the work.

The black clone leaped over the two on the ground and landed right in front of Kairi. She snapped out of her self-reflection suddenly and blocked a chop and a slash, leaning in get a hit of her own but the black clone stepped back, doing a grand battement that kicked Kairi's hands and her weapon over her head and made a wide opening. Kairi gasped and stumbled back as the black clone stabbed her in the belly. Kairi cried out at the sting. The black clone's smirk grew and she pulled out, ready to do it again but Kairi swung down and intercepted it.

Somehow she saw herself in this one as well. Reckless and violent, ready to jump into action without thinking about the consequences and ready to go all out without consideration of the effects. Just like in The World That Never Was; she would have lost her heart a second time if Riku hadn't been there. Just like on the Destiny Islands; in retrospect, building a raft – of all vessels – to travel to another world was a stupid idea.

The white clone came up beside her and slashed horizontally. Kairi stepped away from the attack and another slash from the black clone as well. Her back hit against something hard and pointy. She turned her head. A tree. She had come to the edge of the stage. That was odd because all of the other trees were at the top of the levee. The branch that was sticking into her back gave her a light shove back towards the advancing black and white versions of her. They both swung at her. She slashed down at both approaching weapons, locking them with her Keyblade.

"Don't lose confidence," a voice whispered. It sounded familiar but she had no idea where it was coming from. "They're still only pieces of you."

The black and white clones drew their weapons back and stabbed at her again. Kairi crouched and rolled between them. She knelt behind them and punched both clones in the back of the knee, knocking them down. She ran towards the centre of the stage where the original Unversed was pirouetting gleefully. The pink and beige clones stepped in the way. Kairi held her Keyblade horizontally in front of her like a bar as the two copies ran in to intercept her. She blocked both slashes and pushed them both back. They fell easily due to either weakness or ineptitude. The Princess of Heart closed in on the original Unversed, which gasped in shock and did a kick that Kairi sidestepped. She swung the Keyblade at the Unversed. It turned on the points of its toes, hitting Kairi hard in the side. She still managed to comb the flowery teeth of Destiny's Embrace through the bodice and tutu, ripping out some of the black feathers.

The Unversed screamed in pain and horror. Underneath the feathers the flesh of this creature was bright violet. "You wrecked it! My beautiful outfit! You pulled my feathers!"

It lifted its legs and did a fouette en tournant. Kairi wisely stepped out of the way but wasn't prepared for the Unversed drop its legs after a single turn to do a half turn and a grand battement high enough to kick her in the head. The kick threw her to the ground. The Unversed swept two legs forwards and kicked her in the while she was down. Kairi was flipped onto her back and the Unversed tip-toed towards her and then jammed her stiffly pointed toes into Kairi's stab wound. Kairi shrieked in agony. Her screaming only egged the Unversed to press harder.

"Mom!" Monica shouted, looking over to Kairi and the Unversed. "Kairi's in trouble!"

"Monnie, wait!" Minnie commanded, blasting some of the remaining mirror-headed clones with Blizzaga shots.

Monnie was already dashing off to help her friend but two of the Unversed clones stepped in front of her and simultaneously kicked her in the chest. There was a _crack_. The pounding winded the little girl and knocked her off her feet, sending her flying six feet back.

"How dare you!" Minnie growled, casting Graviga on the two that had attacked her daughter. They were crushed into oblivion. She rushed over to Monica's side and knelt down to cast Curaga.

Kairi let go of the Keyblade and grabbed the Unversed's ankle, trying to pry it off her injury but it wouldn't budge. The Unversed laughed cruelly.

"Look at you. You have the gall to call yourself a Keyblade wielder. You have all the talent of a five-year-old with a toy sword."

"You won't get the Keyblade," Kairi rasped.

"I don't even want it. Seeing you in action with it, I don't need it at all. I, in all my grace and glory, am superior, even to the Keyblade!"

She did grand battements with two of her legs to emphasise her point.

"The mere fact that the Keyblade allows _you_ to control it is proof enough. You weak, brash, clumsy, lonesome buffoon!"

Kairi's heart stung. Her arms shuddered and began to slacken as she continued trying to push the piercing foot off her.

"Think about it!" that voice hissed across the stage. "Surely you know better."

"Who dares interfere?" the Unversed demanded, proving false Kairi's theory that maybe she was the only one who heard it.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. The whisper didn't reply.

Her clones had returned to surround her again but did nothing since she was already at the mercy of their master. It pressed against her wound harder. If not for the colours and the pointe shoes the clones were all completely perfect as replicas, from the shape of their faces to the style of the hair. Kairi could see herself in all them, they embodied something that she didn't quite like about herself.

Monica sat up and tested her healed ribcage by twisting her torso and rubbing it. Minnie was already on her feet, ready to fire magic again. She decimated a few of the remaining mirror-clones with Thundara. Monnie looked over to Kairi and the Unversed.

"No matter. It doesn't matter if you have confidence or not. These clones are all you," the Unversed said to Kairi. "They can't be anything else. After all, they were built on your image."

"Don't listen to her Kairi!" Monnie shouted across the stage.

"Monnie?" Kairi turned to where the mice had done quite a good job of eradicating the rest of the clones.

"Of course they're not you, they're just the Unversed's version of you. You know these creatures only take the worst of you and make it ten times worse than before, like they did to me."

"Oh, of course," Kairi murmured. Then she giggled.

"You brat!" the Unversed spat at Monnie. "And what are you laughing at?"

"Monnie's right. Those copies aren't really me, they're just pieces of me – the pieces that I usually ignore because I don't like them but don't know how to change them. I guess there is some kind of truth to them: I'll probably never be as skilled with a weapon as my friends but that doesn't mean I can't train and practise…"

The beige clone looked taken aback and stepped back, lowering her sword.

"… And I may never be as powerful as Sora or think things through as thoroughly as Riku but that doesn't mean I won't ever be strong."

The black clone and the pink clone glanced at each other and dropped their guard.

"And even if I've been kinda terrible at making friends in the past, I can still open up to the future and make new friends. But even if I don't, I still at least have friends who are willing to lift me up and I'd do the same for them."

The white clone dropped both of her arms to her sides, watching on curiously.

"But they're still your faults!" the Unversed screeched. "You even admitted it! You have faults and that's why you can't be perfect like me! The mirror showed them to you."

A smile suddenly split Monnie's face as she was struck with an idea.

"Yeah, and I guess I am a little ashamed of them," Kairi confessed, feeling the light of her heart swell. Her moonstone began to glow and this time she felt it doing so with her own power, as well as the foreign one that beat in time with her. Those clones were in some way a part of her and she was connected to them, "but I'm not so vain that I would refuse to acknowledge them."

The glow of the moonstone erupted into a flash. Four bright orbs of magic shot from the jewel and into the chests of the Unversed's Kairi replicas. They all closed their eyes. Their dresses and their hair billowed as if they were being blown by a strong wind. The Unversed removed her toes from Kairi's wound and pranced away, leaving the circle of Kairi clones and shying away from the light.

"NNNOOOOOO!" it squawked. "You're a fool, an imperfect fool. Destroy her!"

The four remaining mirror-headed clones were away, doing a series of grand leaps to cross the stage quickly. The Kairi replicas opened their eyes, staring directly into the light of their original. Their irises had turned blue.

They turned to face the approaching clones and raised their weapons, stepping into line. The mirror-headed clones landed in front of them, kicking out in perfect synchronisation. The Kairi replicas stepped around the kicks and folded their legs. The mirror-headed clones had little time to step away as the Kairi clones pivoted on their toes to sweep their rapiers across the bellies of their enemies. If they had been real flesh-and-blood animals that attack would have ripped open their guts. The Kairi clones pliéd and stepped forwards with an arabesque fluidly, swiping the four-legged ballerinas diagonally with the points of their swords. The black ballerinas did a little jump landing in plié with one foot out in preparation to strike again. The Kairi clones advanced and stabbed them right in the centre of their chests. Undeterred, the mirror-headed clones retaliated with grand battements that the Kairi clones jumped away from. They glided forward, getting in another stab where the black ballerinas' battements had left them open. They lowered their legs and hopped towards the Kairi clones, hoping to connect a kick this time. The Kairi replicas evaded it, pirouetting and then, as they passed their rapiers from one hand to the other, doing a small jump to turn and swiftly slash their blades across the base of the mirrors as quick as a whip.

The doppelgangers were paralysed in their positons as their mirrors crashed to the ground, shattering into tiny fragments. Their bodies suddenly collapsed into piles of black sand. The Kairi replicas delicately folded their feet and held their rapiers in front of their chests with both hands, pointing them straight up.

"How dare you! No matter, there is more at fault with you," the Unversed snapped. "I will make more and more clones and do this again and again and again until you finally see yourself for the lowlife you truly are, unworthy of standing in my presence."

It lifted its wings and raised itself, preparing to carry out its threat.

"Not so fast! Lookie here!" Monnie yelled at it.

Its attention was diverted to the other side of the lake where Minnie Mouse had an unaccounted for final mirror-headed clone trapped in a Magnega spell. She let it go and wrapped it in an Aerora spell that sent it spinning towards its master. It stopped in front of the Unversed and regained its balance. Its mirror reflected the Unversed's heads perfectly and took on a white tint.

"No! No! No, no, no, nononononononononono!" the Unversed screamed as its own clone began to pirouette rapidly, changing shape until it was as small as a child and perfectly white. It slowed its turning. The Unversed shrieked in terror at the image presented before her: a pure white version of Ernabella with sad red eyes and tears flowing freeing down her cheeks. In her chest was a great, big hole that was shaped like a heart. "Take it away! That's not me, not at all!"

"That's exactly what you are," Monica retorted, pointing accusingly at her. "You're just the empty shell of a girl who… well, she actually acts a lot like you but in reality I bet she's all lonely and sad because everyone hates her attitude."

"She lets her pride get the best of her," Kairi summarised, standing up slowly with a hand pressing down on her wound. She resummoned the Keyblade into her hands and dashed forwards while the Unversed was preoccupied with its greatest fear. She poked it in the back, where its metaphysical heart was theoretically located. An orb of darkness was partially pushed out at the front. "Minnie, use your magic!"

Minnie primed her ring, gathering all of the light she could muster. "FAITH!"

The beam of pure magic fired right into that dark ball. The Unversed shrieked in denial as its body burned away, leaving behind the little girl who was truly at its core. With their source of power gone, the Kairi clones and the Ernabella clone collapsed into piles of sand.


	30. Envy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the very least, Monnie and Ernabella are able to reconcile in the end.

Destiny's Embrace was dismissed as Kairi reached out to catch Ernabella before she fell. Minnie and Monnie ran up to the two of them.

"Oh, Kairi, let me look at that injury," Minnie implored. Kairi knelt and lay Ernabella down gently. She removed her hand, cringing at the sight and the feel of the red, sticky blood. Minnie crouched down next to her and let one hand hover over the wound. "Cura."

The spell did its work, stitching Kairi's flesh back together as if it had never been broken. Kairi sighed calmly, enjoying the warm tingle of the healing spell while it worked, sending petals soaring around her body.

Ernabella screwed her eyes and moaned. Her eyes opened and blinked blearily. "W-where am I? What just happened?"

"You almost killed Kairi, that's what happened," Monnie answered hotly, placing her arms akimbo.

"She did not and you know it," Minnie reprimanded.

"Huh? The last thing I remember is…" Ernabella sat up. Suddenly she gasped and clapped her hands over her cheeks. "My parents! They're waiting and papa gets so mad if we don't do things on time."

She leapt to her feet but stumbled and fell to her knees. A strong pain had just shot up her right leg from her ankle. She rolled over to look down at her feet. Her ankle was badly swollen and was probably badly bruised under her stockings as well. She leaned down to untie the ribbon of her shoe.

"Oh, that ankle doesn't look too good," Minnie noted, moving away from Kairi now that the redhead was healed and crouching beside Ernabella. The swan looked up from her feet and gasped.

"Qu-Queen Minnie!"

"Yes, that's me," the queen replied with a smile. "Don't worry, let me fix this: Cure."

Minnie's magic focussed on the injured part of Ernabella's body. The pain ebbed away, leaving the little ballerina with a feeling of relief. "That should be all better now," Minnie explained, "just take it easy tonight to let the swelling go down and you'll be fine to dance tomorrow night. I can't wait to see it."

"Um, th-thanks, Your Majesty," Ernabella stammered.

"Wow, I've never seen you so act so meek," Monnie sniggered.

"Not everyone's mom is the queen," Ernabella barked.

"Hey, guys, chill out," Kairi interrupted, scooting over to kneel between them and wave her hands in front of them as if that gesture would actually break them apart.

"You've got blood on your hand!" Ernabella shrieked.

"Yeah, it happened while you were an Unversed," Monnie replied. "You won't remember it."

"While I was what?"

"A creature of darkness came and possessed you. It turned you into an evil monster and all you could think about was hurting people and being perfect… which is actually what you do normally."

"The Unversed hijack your worst feelings and make them ten times worse," Kairi added to Monnie's explanation, also hoping to draw Ernabella's attention, seeing as the swan was glaring indignantly at Monnie. "But they also have a mind of their own so anything you do while they're controlling you isn't your fault at all."

Ernabella turned to Kairi and glanced at the hole in the fabric of her dress. "I did that?"

"Not really," Kairi answered quickly. "I know it wasn't really you. All's forgiven, truly."

"Damn, you put up a fight, though," Monnie said flippantly. Minnie and Kairi shot a warning glare at her.

Ernabella looked down at her feet again, tapping her toes together. "I'm sorry. This is my fault."

"No, I told you, it's all the Unversed's doing," said Kairi.

"But I thought I was so much better than that other girl. Turns out she was a witch and when I broke my ankle she did something… I can't remember what happened after that."

"What other girl?" Minnie asked.

"It only happened because I accidentally took the theatre's shoes instead my own and when I went to put them back this witch girl and her boyfriend challenged me to show off how good I was at ballet. But she was amazing even though the shoes she was wearing were dead. I don't think I can go into the higher advanced class now."

"What? Come on, this isn't the Ernabella I know," Monica blurted out. "You're good enough to go up to the next level and you _are_ still learning. The other girl – whoever she was – had probably already graduated from ballet school."

Minnie smiled in approval but Kairi gawked. After hearing Monnie's confession of how she felt about Ernabella being more skilled than she was, Kairi didn't think that the little mouse would have the courage to swallow her envy and encourage the swan, especially after the way Ernabella treated her.

"No, I mean, I shouldn't," Ernabella insisted. "I actually didn't want to go up this spring but when I told my parents they got all excited and I thought I had no choice but to go along with it. I thought that you would be going up first," she said to Monnie.

"Me? No way, my deboulé is always off and I do really badly at adagio. My muscles are always trembling really obviously; it's no good."

"Nobody in the class is good at adagio," Ernabella pointed out. "But do you remember that time at the beginning of last year when Mr Hopp said that strength was the most important thing? That's why I thought Monnie would definitely level up first. You're way stronger than me, it makes me jealous. I wish my ankles and toes were as strong as yours. How do you stand on pointe for so long? Even when Mr Hopp is correcting you, you never stop."

Monica blushed. She put her hands behind her back and fidgeted. "Er… well…"

"Maybe if you were there you could have beaten the witch." Ernabella stood up, testing her ankle. It felt fine. "I'm not even flexible enough to do a grand jeté like you can. And every time I see you do a grand battement you look like you're about to kick yourself in your big head." Ernabella gently knocked on Monnie's forehead.

"Hey!"

Kairi and Minnie chuckled.

"Come, it's been a while and your parents are probably quite worried," Minnie suggested, "and Mrs Prickles too. I'll explain what happened and put in a good word for you."

"R-really?" Ernabella exclaimed. "Thank-you so much, Your Majesty."

"It's nothing, really. Let's all just go since I'm sure everyone is really tired. The three of you spent all day at rehearsal."

"I didn't rehearse, though," Kairi said. As Ernabella began walking towards the staircase with Minnie and Monnie she accidentally flicked something with her foot. It slid across the floor and stopped under Kairi's knee. She picked it up and blinked at the purple shimmer. "Another one? Why are the Unversed dropping these?"

She closed her hand around it anyway and stood up, jogging to catch up with the group.

"I know you're quite tired," Minnie was saying to Ernabella, "but before I leave you, I was hoping you could tell me more about the witch and her boyfriend."

"Why?" Ernabella asked.

"Similar stuff happened at the castle," Monnie answered. "There was a guy who Kairi says is called 'Z' who's wanted for possibly being involved with the Unversed." The group climbed the wooden stairs and opened the door. To their shock, instead of there being a grey, mysterious forest like there was on the way in, the corridor had been restored. "Hey, the halls are back!"

"They were gone?"

"They were replaced by this weird forest," Kairi said. "But I think maybe it was the Unversed's power, judging by how it fought us. Now that it's gone the corridors must be returning to normal since its magic is fading."

"But, anyway," Minnie continued, pushing them along the corridor. "Can you tell me about them while we get your things?"

"Yeah, there was this witch girl," Ernabella described, "who was all tall and lanky and white." Kairi and Monnie exchanged glances. That description sounded like the 'queen of snow' they had run into a week ago. "And like I said, she was really good at ballet, super good."

Minnie nodded. "Yes, that matches the description that Donald and Goofy gave of the witch that attacked them too: a tall, white ballerina. Her boyfriend, though… he wasn't with her back then."

"Well, he was with her when I saw them. He's not really that tall for a guy. He was all dressed in black and carried around this big, black book. But you'd really know him by his hair. His hair is like, all shades of grey and silver – somehow – and it's longer at the front than the back and he has one side of his face completely covered."

Kairi's heart nearly stopped. Walking behind the mice and the swan, they couldn't see her tremble a little. She suddenly felt dizzy and hot and she clenched the crystal in her hand so hard she thought that if she clenched it any harder it might break. So she clenched it harder, hoping it would break and then maybe the physical hurt would drown out the emotional hurt. Z had just issued her a second dose of poison, this time in a larger quantity. There was no certainty that he was an Organisation member but now it was certain that he was a bad guy. She clenched harder, unable to break the crystal but feeling the ache of her short fingernails digging into her palm. The cold, intangible wind blew directly through her heart and yet she felt as though it might just burst into flames. She paid no mind to the wind though, she only ground her teeth together and privately vowed that when she next saw Z she was going to inflict a great deal of pain on him.

* * *

The rehearsal room still hadn't changed. The lake stage remained but that one tree that stood unique on the lake's edge wobbled and wavered, melting away until it revealed Zexion. Another tall skinny tree hopped down the steps and pranced across the lake, stopping in the middle to do a quick grand battement and then twist into attitude. Zexion raised an eyebrow and melted the illusion around Giselle.

"Ooh, Zexion, I never knew you could do this! This place is so pretty," she gushed. "Could you make my home look like this?"

"Only temporarily," Zexion replied nonchalantly, more focussed on his book. He gave a satisfied nod and closed the tome. "Those notes were quite useful but more observation is required. Goodnight, Giselle, I'll see you tomorrow, as promised."

The illusion cast on the rehearsal room melted away. Giselle pouted. "Oh, I was enjoying this," she grumbled. Nonetheless, she pulled herself up onto pointe and started to twirl back the way she came.

"Those shoes can't be good for your feet," Zexion muttered.

Giselle stopped and looked down at her old shoes. "Of course, they do feel a bit rough and a bit soft. But it was funny to see the look on that girl's face when I one-upped her." The Snow Queen grinned.

"Defeating a child at an activity that you have mastered for centuries is not a worthy accomplishment," Zexion deadpanned. "Goodbye."

"Wait!" Giselle shouted just as Zexion had opened his dark portal in front of him. "If we have to leave now, would you like to come back to my castle?"

"No thank-you. I have a lot of reading to do."

"You can read at my place."

"Your place is very, very cold. I find it more difficult to study in an environment that is uncomfortable in some way."

Giselle pouted again and crossed her arms, drawing circles in the floor in front of her with her toes. "You know, I could take that away. You'd only have to let me kiss you once."

"I'm not kissing anybody for now."

Zexion saw no need to continue the conversation and stepped into his portal, leaving Giselle behind. The white woman smirked when the portal closed and disappeared into curling black tendrils that disintegrated into the air. "I'm sure you will be soon… very soon now."


	31. The Heart Crystals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi's not in good sorts today and to make things worse, Giselle is about to interlope again.

Kairi wasn't in good spirits that night or the morning after. That cold, bitter wind was blowing through her heart. She slept fitfully that night and awoke in a bad mood, even snapping at Tabitha despite the maid doing nothing out of the ordinary. She insisted on wearing the black formfitting dress again, even though Tabitha thought that if she planned to go outside it wasn't warm enough.

The clouds were patchy, letting little pieces of sky seep through. With any luck, by tomorrow there would be big patches of blue or perhaps no clouds at all for Valentine's Day. Kairi smiled wryly to herself as she looked out of her bedroom window. The weather had been taking a terrible turn earlier in the week and now all of a sudden it was making an effort to bring sunshine to Disney Town. Today was the first day of the Valentine's Day Festival.

With such nice weather, Kairi couldn't bring herself to sit inside and fume. She left her sketches alone and decided to put on her black coat and Cossack hat, picking up her ice skates and going outside. The first place she thought to go to was to the pool in the castle's backyard but when she got there and saw the state of it she thought twice. All of the practising she had done in that pool had caused the ice to become bumpy and lumpy, criss-crossed with rills and scarred by the blades of Kairi's skates. With an irritated sigh she realised that she would have to leave the castle grounds and find a nicer place to skate, which meant that she would have to go back to her room and fetch her pass book. She grumbled.

She wasn't in a good mood today.

* * *

Disney Town was bustling with everyone getting really excited for Valentine's Day tomorrow. Kairi wished that she could share their enthusiasm but now she thought she understood just how Max felt: she had two tickets to the ball and nobody to take with her. The one boy who she really wanted to take was on a different world and the other boy who she thought wanted to take her was evidently evil.

Kairi asked many people for directions to a place where she could ice skate and they all told her how to get to a public rink that was somewhere in town. However, Kairi didn't feel like being near more people; she wanted to skate privately. The gully out of town instantly came to mind. Although it might be a little bit too far and she had no idea how to get there herself. The only other time she managed to find it was by hitching on a milk truck and all of the fear and excitement of being dragged behind it when it was going so fast meant that she wasn't aware of the route they were taking. With a grumble she thought that maybe the public rink was the only way to go but then she took a look around at all of the pink and red tinsel, ribbon, roses and fairy lights coiling around posts and poles and all of the hearts and cupids. No, she didn't want to spend her bad day surrounded by this.

A bus came around the corner and squealed to a stop next to a bench on the sidewalk. Kairi noticed the sign on the front had said 'country'. A few teenagers were sitting on the rear bumper catching a free ride. Kairi smirked and quickly hopped on next to them. The bus pulled away from the curb, taking her to a destination yet unknown.

* * *

The wind was particularly bitter in the northern mountains where the ice castle was nestled. Giselle sat on the top step of her mirror's podium with her ice curtains drawn shut in front of her. She had one leg crossed over the other and her arms folded with shoulders tense. Zexion had refused to visit her that morning, even when she went to all the trouble of contacting him via the mirror. Uncrossing her legs, she looked over her shoulder to glance at the cold reflective glass of her prized possession. It returned her angry and disappointed expression.

"He won't come," she muttered to the mirror. The image inside wobbled a bit and then stilled. "He thinks he doesn't feel anymore and yet he seems to feel every time he meets the redhead."

The mirror shimmered and showed her a country road. Kairi was sitting on the back of a bus and checking the surroundings frequently. She was holding tightly to the laces of ice skates, which were tied together. Giselle narrowed her eyes, wondering where that girl was going. Zexion skated a lot, she knew. She drew her knees up to her chest and turned her body so that she wasn't straining herself to see the scene. She hugged her legs close to her chest and gripped her arms so tightly that she was leaving marks on herself.

"I don't want her around," she hissed, unfolding herself and crawling over to her mirror with the grace of a cat about to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse. She sat in front of it and circled Kairi's face with her fingernail.

"You were useful when you were picking up after yourself and leaving Zexion out of it," she said to the image in the mirror, knowing Kairi couldn't hear it, "but I think you're starting to get in the way."

She slapped her hand over Kairi's image hard. The picture wobbled and her own reflection suddenly returned. "I can do things by myself from here on out. It's time for you to shatter."

Giselle stepped back and put her hands out in front of her, lifting her head. "Take me to the Heart Crystals."

The mirror image swayed and rippled away until Kairi's bedroom in the castle was revealed. The Snow Queen leaped through the mirror. The glass rippled violently as she passed through her portal. She landed in a plié on the floor of Kairi's bedroom and looked around. She cringed. The room was so garishly pink, Giselle had no idea how that girl could stand to spend her time in here. In her own opinion the sombre whites and greys and cool blues of her ice castle were far better.

The room was empty so she tip-toed across the floor to the desk. It seemed that would be an obvious place to keep anything. Aside from a clutter of paper piles and drawing pencils there wasn't a lot to look at. Giselle scoffed. Was this all the redhead did in here? Didn't she have any real business or work? All she did was draw. Yet when the Snow Queen was close enough to see what was actually drawn she paused in her mission and cocked her head to the side. There was one piece of paper right in front of the desk chair. It seemed as though it was one of the newest and it was only just finished. It was a picture of last night's Unversed with its back arched in pain while the Queen shot it with Faith from the background. Curious all of a sudden, she turned her attention to the other piles. How could someone draw that much so quickly? She gingerly picked up a picture from the top of one stack, careful not to leave any smudges. It was a picture from a few days earlier in the week of Monica teaching Kairi her first spin on the ice. The one underneath it was from the day before that, of Kairi blocking a strike correctly for the first time in a spar with Max. Giselle browsed through some of the drawings. There wasn't much that was fictional, it was mostly just illustrations of her time at the castle; almost getting hit by a truck, her first meeting with Harry Hippo, finding Mine and Yours in the courtyard, strolling through the streets of Disney Town with Monica while people put up Valentine's Day decorations, Goofy defeating a giant statue with a candelabra, and other silly and rather mundane experiences.

A particular portrait made Giselle suck in a sharp breath. It was Kairi's first meeting with Zexion. It was still sketchy – only partially finished – but the story was still clear. They both had their arms around each other in an intimate gesture that was really only for a practical purpose but it still made Giselle's blood boil. She threw the papers she was holding onto the desk so hard that most of them scattered, fluttering into the air and floating to the floor. She didn't care about the mess she made or how that would give away the fact that she'd been snooping around the room. One piece of paper glided over another, whisking it away and revealing a hidden green shimmer. Giselle caught the shine easily and bushed the papers away carelessly, delighted in thinking of how it would irritate the redhead to have to clean this all up. The Heart Crystals she was searching for were right there, five of them just sitting on top of the desk, not even hidden. Giselle smirked and scooped them up.

She did a pirouette to turn back to Kairi's vanity. The portal to her throne room was still open. She happily skipped back towards it and did another grand leap to return to her pleasantly cold home, glad to be out of that luridly pink and warm bedroom. She landed gleefully, dancing and twirling to the edge of her mirror's podium. Holding the Heart Crystals tightly in one hand she travelled around her mirror with continuous pirouettes.

"She's an idiot! She didn't even hide them," she chuckled as the mirror portal closed and reflected back to her. She stopped when she reached the front of the podium and did another little jump, changing into attitude position as she did and landing on the point of her toe. The ice curtains that she'd concealed her mirror with for so long pulled themselves open. With a flick of her wrist, several snowmen appeared, ready to take her orders. "Prepare my carriage. I want to go out."

The snowmen shuffled away to do as they were bidden. She lowered herself to a flat foot. She opened her fist and smiled at the Heart Crystals shining in her hand.

"Two more. Only two more and this isn't such a daunting task. Zexion will have the heart he wants and that I want him to have, then he'll be mine," she smirked. She gasped happily when an idea struck her. "That's how I could destroy her. I'll turn her into one of _them_!"

She hurried down the steps to get to her bedroom. Dressing appropriately for any event was always a must.

* * *

This was the second stop that the bus had made after leaving the boundary of the town. Kairi jumped off here and scurried to the other side of the road before more traffic came along. She watched the bus pull away and suddenly felt a small hollow open up in her stomach. If she forgot where she was she wouldn't be able to get back. She looked around, taking in the return bus stop on her side of the road, its colour, its shape and the fallow field on the other side of the road to remind her where she should be on her way back. Behind her the seemingly dead forest curtained the landscape. Kairi began her trek into the woods, looking for her private ice rink.

The only sounds that could be heard were the crunching of snow under her feet and the occasional snap of a twig or a branch. Otherwise, it was silent. The soundless environment made Kairi a little uneasy but she pressed on. Eventually she came across the sort of thing she was looking for: a large pond that was frozen over. Even then it wasn't completely ideal for what she wanted. It had a thin layer of snow making it difficult to see where the water ended and the ground began and some piles had fallen from overhead branches but with a big stick Kairi was able to brush them away fairly easily. She put her ice skates on and cleared the rest of the pond, settling in the middle of the makeshift arena to admire her work afterwards. The large piles formed a short wall that made the boundary of the ice clear. It also made another feature clear. A small creek was wandering away from the pond and ambled off around a corner. It must have been moving too slow to avoid the winter freeze.

Not bothering to even think about this familiar yet unfamiliar phenomenon, Kairi decided that it might be worthwhile to explore a little. She was already confident in her ability to skate just for the sake of travelling. She pushed away, following the little frozen creek around the corner. Scenery was always more amazing when it was moving. The dead trees and pale rocks were more animated when Kairi rushed past them. She was able to go faster and faster and when another bend in the creek came up, this time sharper than the first, she leaned on the edges of her skates to turn. She didn't even fall.

The woods opened up a little bit as the creek swerved a little to run next to a narrow road. There were very little trees and shrubs separating the edge of the snow-covered road from the creek. The road was deserted. Kairi thought that it was probably closed for winter but then suddenly she heard a high-pitched grunt. She stopped pushing forward and just glided on the ice, looking over the road curiously and with difficulty since it was on higher ground than she was. She didn't know what animal made that noise and with all of the snow and ice on the road there couldn't possibly be a carriage travelling along it. There was another grunt and this time it was accompanied by the thudding of hooves on the unsealed road. It came closer and closer and Kairi finally saw the source – a white sleigh staffed by snowmen and drawn by four white reindeer. She recognised it immediately as the carriage belonging to the Snow Queen. Her teeth clenched and her eyebrows narrowed as the sleigh came to a stop beside her. The smug face of the skinny woman sitting regally on her lavish cushions was the very last thing she wanted to see on a day when her mood was so volatile.

Giselle sneered at the girl standing on the iced creek, no more pleased to see her than she was to see the Snow Queen. "So, we meet again… and again we meet in unfavourable circumstances."

Kairi summoned her Keyblade on a whim and gave a short chuckle. "Yeah, but this time I have something to hit your ugly face with."

The white woman threw off her short cape made of fine, thick fur and stood up. Her footman opened her door for her and she stepped down to the ground with her hands on her hips, just above her platter tutu. It was super stiff and made with three layers, one in red, one in white and one in golden yellow. The effect of the colours was striking against a black leotard, pastel yellow stockings and red ballet slippers.

"And here I was under the impression that that mouse friend of yours was the shrew in your pair," Giselle said, turning up her nose. "No matter, I can tame you just as easily."

She seemed to melt into a preparatory step. The wind suddenly swirled with such crispness that it stung Kairi's cheeks. The wind carried the Snow Queen as if she was only as light as a snowflake and blew her down to the creek in a gentle spiral. As she landed she raised her arms above her head and lifted one foot to her knee. Kairi growled and lifted Destiny's Embrace, prepared to be the first one to strike.


	32. Hot Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi takes on Giselle, which has a disastrous result.

Kairi lashed first, skating forward with a scream. Giselle narrowed her eyes and kicked forward to block the slash. Kairi hit with all of her might but Giselle's legs might as well have been made of rock. She slipped a little bit and her whole body tensed. The Snow Queen did a single spin and extended her leg for another kick. Kairi blocked it but the force of it sent her sliding backwards. Her breath hitched and her muscles had tensed so much now that she wasn't sure if she was even capable of moving them voluntarily. Her ankles sagged inwards and she could feel a tight pressure in them – this must have been what Z was talking about when he was teaching her.

Giselle laughed. "Goodness! Just look at you! It's wonder that you managed to get this far. How did you even make it past the first one alive?"

Kairi narrowed her eyes. "The first one? Are you talking about The Duchess of Envy?"

"Whatever she called herself, I don't care," Giselle said, waving her hand as if she was telling an annoying animal to go away.

"How do you know about the Unversed at the castle? Oh, wait…" Kairi said, shifting her position to stand a little straighter, feeling herself getting back a little bit of stability. "That's right, you were with Z…"

"Z? So you're calling him cute nicknames, huh?"

The Snow Queen stepped forward and as she raised her foot the snow around her was picked up by magic. It swirled around her foot, condensed and shaped itself into a perfect skating blade made of ice and attached to the bottom of her pointe shoe. She put it on the surface of the creek and pushed off, forming another blade on her other foot. Kairi charged in headfirst, not as fast as Giselle but just as determined. Giselle put on an extra burst of power and lifted one leg to a perfect ninety-degrees and spun. The razor sharp blade would do some nasty damage if it hit. Kairi thought fast and ducked. Her feet accidentally slipped outwards from under her. She held the Keyblade horizontally and pushed the shaft against the Snow Queen's shin. That tripped her up. Kairi ducked her head and narrowly missed having a blade slicing through her head. She sighed with relief. As much as it annoyed her, if she hadn't fallen she wouldn't have been able to duck fast enough. She pulled herself up and turned to face the ice queen again. She hadn't gotten up yet but was just sitting on the ice fixing her now crumpled tutu with a scowl on her face.

"I have no idea what you mean about the nicknames," Kairi told her.

Giselle scoffed. "As if you don't. Zexion always admonishes me if I ever call him anything other than his full name."

" _Zexion?"_ The same Zexion of Organisation XIII, it had to be. Kairi felt her heart tighten into a hot core. She skated on, intending to get to Giselle before she got up.

The ice queen was fast on her feet. Kairi attacked with an axe swing that Giselle easily glided out of the way of. She did a spin, lifting her foot and kicking Kairi in the ankle as she passed. Kairi fell backwards and landed hard on her back. Giselle kicked her leg up high and brought it down. Kairi rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being sliced. She pulled her Keyblade arm free from under her and slashed, aiming for Giselle's ankle. The white woman was faster still, doing a spin to get momentum to do a jump. Kairi tried to get up fast but it was too fast for her limited skills. She slipped, landing hard on one knee. Giselle moved forwards to do a spin and kicked at the redhead with the pick of her blade pointing straight at the girl. Kairi blocked that but Giselle was still powerful enough to send her sliding across the ice. The pick of her own shoe stopped her from going too far.

The Snow Queen didn't advance, even though the distance to Kairi was small to her. She circled a little bit to build some momentum to do a spin, arching her back impressively and holding her arms out to her sides. Kairi pulled her feet back underneath her and started to get up but unlike Giselle she was slow at it. It suddenly felt windy and yet nothing was moved by it – the snowflakes fell straight down and the twigs in the trees weren't rattled but Kairi could still hear the howl. It got darker and chillier. The Princess of Heart found her feet and lunged forward, aiming for the standing leg. She ignored what was going on around her, blinded by that heated feeling in her heart. Giselle didn't miss a beat, stopping her spin to kick the Keyblade. The two girls were locked with the front of Giselle's ice blade in the teeth of Kairi's Keyblade.

Something grabbed Kairi around the waist. She gasped and turned around, swiping at it with the Keyblade. A ribbon of darkness snapped and disintegrated. Kairi's eyes widened. She turned back to Giselle with a glare. She slashed upwards in the ice queen's general direction but Giselle merely skated backwards. Her tutu still got nicked. Giselle growled and matched Kairi's intense glare.

"Now I see what you're doing," Kairi snapped. "Just so you know, it won't work."

"We'll see about that. Trust me, it always works," Giselle retorted. "And it'll be fine payback for ripping my outfit, bitch."

"Your outfit is the least of your problems. And it's ugly anyway."

Kairi lunged again, going for Giselle's ankle. The Snow Queen blocked with a minor turn of her foot. Kairi turned the Keyblade around and pulled up, cutting the queen up the side of her calf. Giselle gasped. She spun around and lashed out with her blade. Kairi leaned back to dodge but it wasn't far enough to avoid the cut across her face. In the process she lost balance and fell onto one knee again. Giselle spun again and kicked a second time. Kairi managed to block that with the Keyblade's knuckle bow. She gave Giselle a hard shove, slicing upwards with her weapon. Giselle merely leaned back and kicked her leg up as she slid backwards. It kept her balanced but another nick had been made in her tutu. She stopped and looked down to assess the damage. This tear was larger than the first and her stockings were wrecked. Blood was streaming freely out of her wound, staining the pale yellow and darkening the red shoes. She cast Cure on herself. Instead of petals and leaves her spell was adorned with snowflakes, dancing around her wounded leg until the cut had sealed itself seamlessly.

She looked up to see Kairi rushing in without warning. She ducked under the high slash aimed at her neck and did a crouched spin that hit the redhead in the back of the calf. It tore a neat hole in her coat with the toe pick. Kairi fell onto her back but continued to slide as Giselle rose, still spinning. She slapped her Keyblade onto the ice behind her head. The shaft collided with the blade Giselle was spinning on and tripped her over. She hit the side of her head on the ice, wincing at the pain and the ringing in her ears.

The ethereal wind was starting to whip again but this time it didn't slow down. Kairi struggled to get back up quickly but Giselle beat her to it. The Snow Queen lifted her arms and some of the snow around them began to rise into the air. It condensed into giant snowflakes that were just as elegant, unique and fragile-looking as the real thing but their arms ended with deadly sharp spikes. Giselle threw her hands down, pointing her fingers at Kairi. The snowflakes followed her command and zoomed towards the girl. Kairi smashed a few with her Keyblade but most of them got through. They shattered when they made impact, leaving the sharp spikes embedded in her flesh. The new wounds stung and felt hot as though all of the heat that was building in her heart was now being expelled through the injuries. Kairi still skated on, despite her movement being more limited with her dress pinned to her body. Giselle pushed forwards to meet her, ducking under Kairi's amateur slash with another low spin that tripped her. She grabbed Kairi by the ankle and managed to lift her with difficulty, doing a pivot. Kairi's weight gave her the momentum to spin faster and faster. Kairi leaned down, trying to get her bearings, grabbing a hold of the tutu in one hand and chopping down on Giselle with her Keyblade in the other. The ice queen let go, throwing Kairi down the frozen creek. The tutu was torn off her waist. It was cleanly cut where the Keyblade had snagged it and messily half-torn around Kairi's fingers, ruined forever. Giselle's leotard had a hole cut in it at the waist and the flesh underneath was bleeding. She cast Cure on herself again.

"You filthy, wretched skank!" she shrieked at Kairi.

Giselle did her arched-back spin again. The magic wind grew strong and so did the real wind. It eddied around trees, rocks and branches. Wisps of black or red appeared and disappeared. Giselle lifted her leg up to hold it behind her head. A burst of something that Kairi could only describe as pure feeling suddenly radiated from her, its intense heat matched the coiling fire inside the redhead. A ribbon of darkness wrapped around her wrist. Kairi cut it with the Keyblade but another wrapped itself around her weapon arm. In the process of switching hands to cut it two more wrapped around her waist and ankle. She screamed in frustration but was cut off by ribbons wrapping around her mouth and eyes. She slashed blindly at them but it was futile. It wasn't long before the ribbons had entrapped her completely, tying her legs together and forcing her arms to fold over her torso. Still she struggled and wiggled.

Kairi's body, mummified by the darkness, got to its feet and doubled over. The wind suddenly stopped and the woods became unnaturally still. Jagged, angry red eyes opened on Kairi's face. Starting from her crown, a deep red fire began to burn and spread over her scalp. Her feet disappeared as holes opened up in her ankles and steam poured out in a rush, hissing and whistling hotly. Her legs peeled apart and her arms were torn away from her chest. Even though the new Unversed kept Kairi's original figure, it could hardly be called a girl anymore. The only piece of Kairi remaining on this sinister creature was her precious moonstone necklace.

Giselle grinned and felt relief flood through her own cold heart, like a great weight had just been released. She stood on the ice with one foot crossed over the other. She put one hand on her hip and the other was lifted to point at the Unversed. "Now, minion, bow to your creator," she demanded.

The Unversed stood its ground, moving not one inch. Giselle snarled. "Do as you are bidden! Just as your cousins before you have."

The Unversed did a roundhouse kick in Giselle's direction. The hot steam from its ankles spewed out rapidly. Giselle screamed in pain as the hot steam hit and then billowed around her in a great big cloud, burning her pale skin that was only adapted to freezing temperatures. The Unversed glided slowly across the ice, melting it slightly as it moved. The Snow Queen twitched and whimpered, laying on the ice in agony. Her skin was red, wrinkled and peeling from the steam burn. The Unversed stood over her, so close that the steam from its ankles was blowing against Giselle's side. She wailed at the extra pain.

Suddenly a large group of Unversed zipped onto the scene. The newly birthed Unversed floated backwards as a Scrapper lunged for it. It looked around. The new enemies were not terribly concerning; merely lesser Unversed, mainly Floods and Scrappers with only a couple of Bruisers and the occasional Jellyshade. There was only one Monotrucker, looking out of place since it was the only one amongst its allies. They stood in no apparent formation on the creek, road and up the banks, ready to fight. Pages fluttered around them like large, rustling butterflies.

Kairi's moonstone glowed dimly. The feminine Unversed shot a huge burst of steam from both ankles, rocketing itself past the canopy in a powered up leap. As soon as it was gone the pages swooped and swirled rapidly, gathering up all of the lesser Unversed. The pages returned to the infinite space of their book of origin and when they had all been safely returned its master dismissed it. Giselle looked up, vision blurred by pain, as someone dressed entirely in black skated next to her. He poured a mega-potion over her body. The magic liquid was drawn to the injuries that needed its healing powers. Giselle's ivory skin felt hot and uncomfortable as the magic worked hard to heal the damage done by her own creation.

"Zexion…?" she muttered, smiling.

"Yes, it's me," Zexion replied, looking down at her. "I'm curious as to why you're in this predicament."

"I created it… but it's rogue. It wouldn't listen."

Zexion shook his head. "You should have waited for me. I needed to observe it in its metamorphic state. This only delays my research."

"You wouldn't come earlier…"

"No, I wouldn't. I promised to meet you at a specific time and earlier today I was engaged in another experiment that is also crucial to my research. You're lucky your mirror was worried enough about you to show me where you were, otherwise that rogue Unversed would have killed you." Zexion held out a hand to help Giselle to her feet. "We should find out where it went and see if we can do something about purifying it."

Giselle smiled coyly, letting Zexion lift her up and then falling into his chest once she was on her feet. "You came quickly. Were you worried about me?"

"I don't worry, I don't have the capacity," Zexion replied. "However, for a moment I remembered what it was like to be anxious but I think that's a little bit different; more self-centred. I still need your help to get my heart back. That's why I saved you. Now, we should go."

He took Giselle by the hand and made a dark portal over the ice, skating into it and dragging her with him.


	33. Hot-Headed Harley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi's Unversed goes to town and who's going to show up to stop it?

The winter had closed off most of Disney Town's local skate park but the section of it that was sheltered by a shed roof was still fine to ride in. The Valentine's Day decorations hadn't touched the park further than the fence with the only true effect on the park being the increase of puppy-love graffiti on the concrete obstacles and steel posts. For that reason, Max and his two friends, Bobby (a laid back porcupine with an out of control orange Mohawk) and P.J. (an overweight cat), had taken to the park, leaving the sappy, romantic atmosphere of the rest of the town behind. Bobby was in the skate pool, riding up to the lip and down again lazily. Max and P.J. sat at the top of a nearby mini ramp, listening to the hip-hop and techno mix CD they'd brought with a small, battery powered CD player.

"You know, I've been feeling strange recently," P.J. piped up, "but it all just kinda stopped today. Do you think that's a sign?"

"A sign of what?" Max asked.

"That maybe we should be out trying to get a girl instead of sitting down here like we're gonna be alone forever."

"C'mon, man, it's not like we're never going to have girlfriends just because we missed out on one Valentine's Day."

"But we missed out last year… and the year before that… and the year before _that_ …"

"Yeah, so what? And what do you mean by 'strange'? I haven't been feeling strange."

"I have," Bobby interjected, riding up over the lip and kicking his skateboard up. "You know, I just felt really angry and mean, man. It started from a little thing – my little brother ate the last of my canned cheese and he doesn't even like canned cheese! – but then it just wouldn't go away."

"Yeah, that's how I felt," P.J. said with a nod.

"You guys are just weird," Max shrugged.

"Naw, man, you're weird," Bobby said, rummaging through his backpack to find a pressure can of liquid-like cheese. "You're the odd one out of all of us." He tipped his head back and stuck his tongue out, squirting a mouthful of processed cheese over it.

"How do you know? There's only three of us. And I'm pretty sure nobody else at the castle has been feeling this weird."

"Do you think we should go around and ask people if they've been feeling different?" P.J. asked. "'Cause if you do, you can do that by yourself 'cause that would be embarrassing."

"Straight up, dude—whoa, whoa, whoa!" Bobby suddenly exclaimed. "Chick alert at one o'clock."

Max and P.J. whipped around very indiscreetly and stared. There were two girls walking past the skate park chatting with each other and apparently very disinterested in the concrete park. Bobby whistled loudly through his fingers, making them stop. Max and P.J. gasped and sent Bobby a reprimanding glance but turned their attention back to the girls anyway. The first girl to turn her attention to them was the ginger with the tan coat and mismatched beanie hat. Her long hair was cut straight with a low fringe that looked like it had been cut along the rim of a pudding bowl. She had large, round glasses with a prescription that made her eyes look a bit smaller than they really were, freckles and an overbite with some very obtrusive braces. Max gulped as the other girl in a teal coat turned around, feeling his heart palpitate. She seemed to move in slow motion, bouncy auburn hair flipping naturally as if she was actually trying, dark brown doe eyes with a beauty spot like a tear under her left eye. They both stared at the boys with questioning expressions. Bobby gave a short laugh and waved.

"Hi Stacey," he called out, "and Roxanne."

The ginger-headed girl waved back and grinned, revealing more steel. The brunette gave a smaller smile, cheeks dimpling as she did.

"Roxanne," Max breathed out, staring with half-lidded eyes in a trance-like state just because his brunette crush was right there smiling at them. Suddenly an idea struck him and he grabbed his skateboard. "Hey, guys, check this out!"

He dived straight into the pool, doing a series of lip tricks one after the other. He put emphasis on the most complex tricks he could do, leaping and grinding over the edge only to come back down to the ramp and fly across the bowl to the other side. He finished his exhibition by jumping over the lip and doing a 360-degree aerial move, landing soundly on the wheels of his board. He kicked his board up and grinned. Bobby and P.J. had gone over to the fence to talk to the girls and they didn't seem to have seen his best tricks. He sighed. That had taken effort too. He wondered if he should go over and talk to them too but shook his head dismally. It probably wouldn't matter. It was likely that Roxanne and Stacey were off to meet someone. Nobody as pretty as Roxanne would go alone on Valentine's Day.

There was a _BOOM_ and loud screaming all of a sudden. Max's ears perked up in alarm. He ran over to the fence. His friends and the girls were staring down the street where they could see people running from a huge cloud of what might have been smoke or steam.

"That doesn't look good," Stacey muttered with a congested voice, sniffing deeply. She probably had a cold.

"No… but it might be cool to check it out," Max said, hatching what he deemed to be a brilliant plan to get his crush's attention.

"Nuh-uh," P.J. said while shaking his head. "That looks dangerous. We should probably leave it to the police."

"Come on! Don't be a wimp, Peej," Max scoffed, leaping over the fence with his skateboard in hand. "Don't you want a little bit of excitement? After all, nothing else interesting is gonna happen for us today so we might as well get a peek."

"No, P.J.'s right," Roxanne argued, looking pointedly at Max. "What if a gas pipe has just ruptured or this is a terrorist attack? Either way, this is a dangerous situation and it's best that we stay away."

"Don't worry, I'm just going to check it out," Max assured them, jogging down the street. "I won't get involved or anything, I promise."

"Max, don't do this!" Roxanne called after him with a warning tone.

"Meh, don't worry about him," Bobby said. "If he gets hurt, he'll totally regret it anyway."

Max made it to the end of the street. The cloud was dissipating a bit, making the scene behind it clearer. Library Square – a place that was normally quite peaceful albeit busy – had become a mess. Hot steam was still lingering in the area, making it too hot to wear winter clothes. The windows on the lower storeys of buildings were smashed in or severely cracked. The trees were leaning; some hanging on only by the virtue of a few deep roots while others were uprooted completely. People hobbled away from scene with bad burns, some people had to be carried. The stone and concrete in the square was marred by cracks and fractures that led up to the epicentre of the blow where the grass on the square was actually killed by the sheer heat of the source. A dark blue female figure with flames for hair was crouched in the middle of that patch of dead grass. Steam was still pouring out from underneath it and when it stood up it didn't seem to have any feet. Max gulped. This was definitely bad news and he should go. He turned to look down the street. He couldn't see the expressions of his friends and his crush from this distance but they were probably anxious.

Even though he wanted to look like a hero, he supposed that being the only one brave enough to assess the situation made him enough of a big deal to show off. He gave the monster in the square one last glance and then turned to run back to the relative safety of the group… and ran into a wall. The impact knocked him down and left his head spinning. Max sat up and just stared in front of him. He couldn't see anything in front of him but when he stood up and reached out his hand touched something solid. Pink hexagons became visible wherever his hand moved on the barrier and disappeared when his touch left. Max's heart dropped in dread. There was no way he'd be able to make it out of a magic barrier.

The group of youths had come running as soon as they saw the barrier erected. They reached the mostly invisible barrier. Bobby and P.J. began the futile effort of pushing against it, slamming their shoulders against the magic wall if only to feel as if they were helping in some way.

"Oh no," Roxanne muttered, covering her mouth with her fingers. Max felt a lump suddenly bulge in his throat seeing her that worried. "I told you not to go."

"It's no good, dude," Bobby said redundantly. "You're trapped in there. What happened?"

"It's really bad," Max replied.

"Is it a terrorist?" Stacey asked. She and Roxanne exchanged wide-eyed glances.

"I have no idea. It's a monster. I don't know if it's rogue or if someone's controlling it but it basically destroyed the square in just one hit."

"And now you're stuck in there with it," P.J. said.

Max gulped and turned around. The Unversed was floating higher above the square, surveying it. The steam that propelled it was making a sauna of the public space. Max started to loosen his scarf and undo buttons on his jacket.

"Find somewhere to hide and stay low for a while," Stacey advised. "It's possible that the barrier was put up to keep the monster in, so maybe someone is going to try to deal with it."

"Good idea, Stace," Roxanne agreed. "It's best not to get too involved. You'll probably get hurt."

"Gee, thanks for having faith in me," Max muttered, blowing at his fringe.

"We're serious! Don't take this so lightly."

"Fine, I'll… uh…" he turned around and gawked.

A dark figure appeared in the thick fog, ambling slowly towards the levitating Unversed with sword in hand. The Unversed noticed it and descended from its vantage point. The figure stopped and took up a battle stance, lifting the sword up to eye-level. The Unversed attacked first, kicking and shooting a jet of steam. The figure ducked underneath the kick and the blast. It lunged, stabbing upwards with the sword, aiming for the chest but the Unversed did an impressive backbend, landing on its hands. It brought its legs up for a double sweeping kick, accompanied by more powerful jets. The figure jumped over the first low kick and ducked under the high kick. It swiped at the Unversed's wrists. The Unversed was quick and stepped over the sword as if it was skipping double-dutch on its hands. It turned as it did, coming around for more kicks. The figure blocked the first but that didn't stop it from following through with the second. The dark figure was hit in the head and the steam jet fired it halfway across the square.

"Uh oh, you were right Stacey," Max gulped. "I am so getting out of the open. I just hope that when this is all over, I won't be one of the bodies they pull out of the wreckage."

Max dashed away to find his hiding place. Roxanne wrung her hands over her heart. "Please don't say that…" she whispered.

The steam was a good cover as Max snuck around the edge of the square. Every now and again he could hear clanking when the dark figure and the Unversed collided, sometimes followed by the whooshing of the Unversed's jet steam. Max kept the battle at least in the corner of his vision until he came across a newsagency that he could duck into. Hopefully, staying behind the walls would be enough cover. He settled down on the floor, making sure to stay in the shadow underneath the window frame. The store, darkened by broken lights, felt unnaturally still, especially when there was a battle right outside. His heart thumping against his ribcage was so fast and loud that he began to measure time by it. Each beat seemed to be a minute long. Max wondered why things weren't going faster. How long was that mysterious dark figure going to take to defeat this Unversed?

Suddenly there was a crash nearby, a distinct sound of shattering glass and shards rained down over him. Max's eyes widened. The dark figure slammed head first into a shelf with stationery on display, knocking it down. The neck bent at an impossible angle. Max's mouth and throat went dry and his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. The helmet clattered to the linoleum floor.

The body lay completely lifeless over the toppled shelf. It was a fairly small, young body, covered from head to toe in a tight, dark suit with a smooth, black helmet and a red and black half-skirt. Max shook his head in disbelief. There was no blood, flesh or bone inside the figure. The helmet had come clean off and left nothing but a dark void where the head should have been. The sword that had fallen from the limp fingers was a dull black single-sided blade with a cruel hook-like extension at the base and a red knuckle bow.

Max peered over the frame of the now broken window. The Unversed jettisoned itself into the sky only to run into the magic barrier. It beat against the magic fruitlessly. The dog boy turned back to the mysterious dark body. It still hadn't moved from where the Unversed had thrown it. He slowly crawled towards it. Taking a breath to calm his nerves, he tentatively poked it. Then he poked it again, just a little bit harder. It remained still. Max picked up the helmet and looked inside. It was completely empty; not even darkness or some kind of ethereal mass could be found. Curiosity took over and he put it on. The opaque blackness on the outside belied only a lightly tinted view from the inside. He surveyed the store, testing the tint against the light from outside. It felt no more different or special than wearing a pair of sunglasses.

Something grabbed him roughly from behind. He gasped and tried to turn around to hit at it. It held his arms down. He looked over his shoulder. The suit had taken a hold of him. It pressed against his back was melting against him. It deformed and wrapped over his body as if he was sinking in a thick slime. It coated him completely and sealed itself to the helmet. Max looked down at himself in shock. The helmet gradually lost its tint until he could see as clear as day. It was like he wasn't even wearing a helmet. He brought his hands up to stare at them. He was covered by this odd armour. His heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what this was going to do to him. What would happen if it swallowed his heart?

Max felt a gentle sensation like he was being nudged and pulled from all directions towards a specific destination. He turned to where the sensation was directing him – the sword. He picked it up voluntarily. The nudge stopped. He looked out of the window to the Unversed. Suddenly a harder, rougher tug forced his sword arm to point the black blade at the Unversed. Max didn't know how but he understood perfectly what the armour was communicating to him: it wasn't going to come off until that thing was finished.

Max sighed in defeat. He couldn't go back to his friends or his life if he was stuck in this weird suit and he couldn't make it past the magic barrier. He steeled his resolve and leaped out of the store through the broken window. Max's heart nearly stopped again as a sudden burst in power propelled him further than he really intended to go. He still managed to land on his feet, guided by the gentle push of the mystical armour.

The Unversed dropped back down to the ground, preparing to make another leap into the sky to fight the force field. Max charged forwards, sword in hand. The Unversed saw him coming. It narrowed its eyes. It raised its arms and steam poured from its ankles. Max took a large step forwards, getting low to hit at what he presumed was the weak spot of the Unversed. It lifted one leg, firing its steam jet at him. The armour guided him into a one-handed cartwheel to dodge it. The Unversed swung its leg around, directing the jet back to him. He jumped up and landed on the shin. The Unversed was strong and stable enough to hold him. It kicked right up. That gave Max some air time to do a mid-air somersault. He opened up and slashed down with the sword as he descended, slicing the Unversed down its back. It was shaken by the attack but recovered quickly and turned for a sweep kick. Max rolled out of the way.

The Unversed was about to kick with the other leg. Max got up quickly and turned the sword upside down. He caught the Unversed's lower leg in the hook, stabbing its flesh in the process. He pushed it in a little bit more to get a surer grip and then flipped the sword the right way up while hoisting the Unversed over his head. It went soaring and spinning and landed face first on the ground behind him. It regained stability with its hands and did the splits, spinning on its own face to sweep kick at Max's ankles. Max wasn't able to dodge the quick counter and was tripped up. The second leg swung around hit him and with a burst of steam he was sent speeding along the ground. The dirt and paving beneath him was torn up by the force of the thrust. The armour did its job to protect him from as much damage as possible.

He collided with a meteor-like impact into the steps of the public library. That had really hurt. His very bones felt like they were aching as he got to his feet slowly and shakily. The steam in the square created thick clouds that almost completely obscured everything. They parted for the approaching dark figure with flaming hair. Max wanted to spit but thought twice with the helmet on. Instead he stretched his neck and rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate the aching a bit.

"Okay you hot-headed Harley," he growled. "It's go time."

He gripped the sword in both hands and waited for the Unversed to make the first move.


	34. Rage Quit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max brings the battle against Kairi's Unversed to an end with the help of the villains who started it. However, Zexion gets a little more out of the engagement than he bargained for.

The Unversed took the bait and charged with a burst of steam. Max leaped up, taking advantage of the power boost the suit gave him. He somersaulted once and came down on the Unversed with two-footed stomp, pummelling it into the ruined steps. The moonstone flashed briefly but nobody had any way of noticing it. The Unversed pushed itself up. Max hopped off its back and swung down on it. The Unversed blocked the hit with its forearm, ignoring the damage and pushing the sword out of the way. It punched Max in the stomach and followed that directly with a steam-powered kick. Max was jettisoned across the square once again but instead of being allowed to crash against a wall, ice waves suddenly appeared. The boy in the armour hit the slippery surface and slid along them as they twisted and curled like a rollercoaster and let him slide to the ground gradually.

Max shook his head but that only made him dizzier. The ice melted quickly in the heat, becoming a source for even more mist. He got to his feet and ducked as the Unversed zoomed towards him. It braked against the wall and rocketed towards him again. One of its hands clenched into a fist. Max raised the sword and stood his ground. The Unversed got close and as it did he ducked down just enough to dodge the flying punch. He drove the hook of the blade between where he assumed the creature's collarbones were and sliced it right down the front. Red flames burst forth from the wound and sealed it but the Unversed was weakened temporarily and crashed.

"Geez, this thing is out of control," he muttered, looking around. "And who even saved me?"

He didn't get an answer and there was no time to search for anyone either. The Unversed zoomed to grab him. He only just managed to catch it out of the corner of his eye and ducked, making a fist and punching it right in the solar plexus. The Unversed stumbled back but regained balance quickly. It jabbed at Max twice. He blocked both punches with the knuckle bow and swiped at the Unversed. It shot itself into the air, over the attack. Both legs kicked forwards and blasted steam at the boy in the dark armour. Max rolled to avoid it. Propelled by the blast, the Unversed somersaulted several times. Max got up and the Unversed landed right in front of him. He stabbed it in the sternum. Taking a hold of the grip in both hands, he kicked the Unversed in the stomach, flinging it away. A great beam of light burst from the wound in its chest. The moonstone also shone brightly in response. The Unversed slapped both hands over the hole in its body, quelling the light and cauterising its wound. The moonstone began to blink.

Max charged in to attack while the Unversed was distracted. He swung his sword horizontally. The Unversed put up an arm to block it. It would surely get lodged and leave Max open for an attack. At the last minute, however, Max crouched and the sword cut deeply into the Unversed's side. The armour guided him into a complex manoeuvre; he let go of the hilt and cartwheeled onto his hands. He kicked the Unversed in the chin to force it to let down its guard and then spun around to kick it again, hooking his ankle with its neck and driving its head right down to the ground with such force that the concrete cracked. The Unversed squirmed and kicked him in the side, blowing him away with a jet of steam. He tried to reach for his sword but his fingers just missed it. Again a rollercoaster-like ice structure broke his fall.

"Good grief, you're actually quite useless, aren't you?" snapped an impatient woman. Max got up and turned to see a thin, white woman partially hidden behind a leaning tree. His eyes widened.

"Hey! You're that witch! Or at least you look like someone who could be her."

"And if I am? We're allies at the moment since we both want to stop that Unversed," she replied.

"You're the one who used the ice?"

"Yes, clearly." She looked away sheepishly. "But as you can probably see, my magic is a bit compromised in this situation."

"Yeah, heat and ice don't mix, got that," Max said, turning his full attention back to the Unversed. It was getting back up, taking a hold of the dark sword and ripping it out. "Damn it! I have to destroy that thing somehow but now I'm unarmed."

"You might want to reconsider that," said a male voice. It was too difficult to make out details in the face and body through the steam but Max could see a black coated figure sitting in the branches of the tree. He guessed he must have been the other half of this duo he'd heard about.

"Oh yeah? And why's that? This thing your pet or something?" Max inquired. "Should I be trying to take out you guys as well?"

"As I said," the white woman interjected, "we're allies here. This creature is not our 'pet'. Neither of us can control it."

"I set up the magic barrier to trap it," the boy in the tree said, "now I need to find a way to heal it. I believe Kairi is your friend, isn't she?"

"Kairi? What did you do to her?" Max growled.

"Look out."

Max turned in surprise. The Unversed was rocketing towards him recklessly again. He jumped out of the way as the pale woman erected an ice wall that the Unversed just rammed straight through, shattering it completely.

"Kairi's heart was kidnapped by that Unversed," said the boy. "If you simply destroy it her heart will be destroyed as well."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"I'll think of something. You just keep an eye on the Unversed lest something unexpected happens."

Max had no idea what he meant by that but he turned his attention back to the Unversed anyway. It was difficult to see it through the copious amounts of steam but it was standing tall again. Max didn't quite understand how it could take critical damage and still just get up like that. It held the sword in its hand and took a wide stance. The knuckle bow split in half and spread apart, forming a double knuckle bow as the blunt edge of the sword became thicker and lengthened into a shaft. Max's jaw dropped.

"That _cannot_ be a Keyblade!" he exclaimed.

"Interesting. Her heart's power shines through darkness even now. I'll make a note to do some research on this at a later date."

"Oh no, you don't get another chance to mess with her," Max warned.

The Unversed charged with the Keyblade. This time it bypassed Max and went straight for the white woman. She quickly summoned a broadsword made of ice to block the attack. The weapons locked but the sword was already melting. Max tackled the Unversed, grabbing a hold of the Keyblade and trying to wrest it out of the creature's grasp. It resisted him fiercely. They both rolled over each other in their fight for the magic weapon. The pale woman reinforced her melting broadsword, thickening the blade to counter the heat. She took aim and hurled the sword in the direction of Max and the Unversed. They both saw the weapon coming and simultaneously directed the Keyblade to block the attack. The ice sword went spinning into the air and shattered when it hit the ground, having melted so much already that it was frail. Using the moment of distraction, Max took one hand off the hilt and placed it near the top of the shaft. He kneed the Unversed in the belly and swapped their positions so that he had it pinned to the ground. With a great burst of force to overcome the Unversed's strength he pushed the teeth of the Keyblade down while pulling the hilt up, flipping the weapon over and driving it into the Unversed's chest.

Rays of light burst from the edges of the puncture. The Unversed brought both knees up and kicked Max in the belly, blowing him into the air with steam. His trajectory arched high up and he landed several metres away, bouncing a few times and rolling until he crashed into a wall. The Unversed got up and almost doubled over immediately. The body was starting to burn now; little black spot flames erupted on its skin. It tore the Keyblade from its chest. A solid beam of light shone through and the moonstone became as bright as the sun. With the last of its strength, the Unversed coated the mystical weapon in Firaga magic. The flames rose in great, violent plumes. It took aim like a javelin thrower and hurled the weapon in the direction of the ice queen. A dark portal opened up beneath her and she fell through. The Keyblade speared the dying tree and exploded in a great ball of fire that left a shallow, charred indent in the square several feet wide.

The Unversed brought its legs together and wrapped its arms around itself in a slow, jerky manner as if it was being forced. Its entire body faded to black. The flaming hair suddenly gained in a bit of volume and then became solid, falling down around the shoulders like a soft curtain. The legs billowed out like a long skirt. A dark portal opened up in the air far behind it and Zexion hopped out, carrying the Snow Queen like a bride. He put her down gently and summoned his Lexicon, dictating the notes he wanted to take in a low murmur. There was a sudden burst of light and the darkness wrapping the girl blew away like dust. Only a thick chain remained coiled tightly around her. Kairi struggled against it. She grabbed it with both hands and tried to pull it off but her light was dimming and her strength was fading.

"Kairi!" Max screamed out, tearing the helmet off his head and tossing it aside.

Kairi seemed to have heard him. She opened her eyes for a bit and then squeezed them shut. The light brightened, filling the entire square with the blinding glare of a miniature sun. Max screwed his eyes shut and blocked the light with his hands. Giselle turned away but Zexion, too engrossed in his research and unprepared for the sudden surge of power, didn't cover his eyes fast enough. The light felt like it was burning right through his retinas and into his brain.

" _Hi, I'm Kairi. What's your name?"_

" _Huh?"_

" _I asked your name."_

" _Why?"_

" _Because I want to know you. I see you around sometimes but you never have any friends. Can I be your friend?"_

" _I… well, I'm not sure, I… I don't know what friends do."_

" _Friends do everything! It's really fun. I'm going to see my friends right now. If you come, you can make friends with my friends and then we'll all be friends."_

" _Th-that's okay. I don't want to interfere."_

" _Hmm? What's 'intafer'?"_

" _Uh… nothing. I think I have to go now… go home, I mean."_

" _But we just met."_

" _I'm sorry. But I have to go home."_

" _That's no fun. Here."_

" _What's this?"_

" _It's a flower, silly. I picked them myself this morning."_

" _I know it's a flower. Why are you giving this to me?"_

" _It's a gift. Friends give each other gifts sometimes. I was gonna give all of my friends a flower and I wanted to keep that one but I should give it to you because you're a friend now too."_

" _Thanks. I'll be sure to take care of it for as long as I can. Bye now."_

" _Bye."_

Kairi pushed the chain looped around her torso over her head. Her grip tightened and with an almighty tug she ripped it in two. The dark chain shattered and disintegrated into nothing. The light gradually began to fade, retracting back into its source. When it disappeared Zexion blinked, able to see again immediately. Different kinds of magic light had different qualities, after all. Kairi's eyes rolled back under half-closed eyelids and she swayed dangerously. Max leaped to his feet despite the pain in his joints and dashed over to her but he couldn't get there fast enough to catch her fall.

Luckily, Zexion was quicker. He moved quickly through the Corridors of Darkness and caught Kairi in an embrace before she fell far. She was completely passed out. Zexion slowly lowered her to the ground and laid her on her back. He brushed some of the bangs out of her face with his fingers but the inquisitive and calculating stare belied the gentle gesture.

"Don't touch her!" Max shouted, skidding to a halt only three feet away. He put his fists up. "Get back!"

Zexion did as he was told, standing up and taking a few steps back. "Well done," he congratulated. "You really applied yourself to the task here and Kairi surely has much to thank you for."

"You had something to do with this. You're that kid in the tree, right? You're responsible for some of the stuff that happened around the castle too, aren't you? I bet you did this to Kairi."

"I haven't done anything to her," Zexion replied, glancing at the Snow Queen. "We were only here to help." He crouched to pick up a red, heart-shaped crystal. "I'll take the armour back too."

A page from his book tore itself from the spine and flapped over to Max. It hovered above him and suddenly tripled in size. It spun around as it descended, phasing through Max's body with the dog boy feeling like he was merely being scanned with a warm laser but each bit of his body that it covered had the armour completely removed. When it finished collecting the suit it pulled itself out from under Max's feet and flapped away to find the helmet. Max gawked at it.

"What was that even?"

"The armour is a Lingering Will. It is an astrastatic projection of a heart and soul that refuse to be quelled. They serve as anchors to the heart and soul's realm of origin so that they can be reassembled easily at a single coordinate. It's debateable as to whether this is a 'being' of its own; the academics and scientists who have examined this phenomenon either take the position that it retains the order of its original persona on the basis that this phenomenon is theoretically achievable by any creature or they take the position that the Lingering Will is another member of _Crudelis_ on the basis that it can only be achieved in rare conditions similar to those that generate Nobodies and they seem to subsist in the border between existence and non-exis—"

"Dude, shut up. I don't care _that_ much," Max interrupted. He crouched down next to Kairi and put a hand on her shoulder to shake her.

"She's out cold," Zexion said nonchalantly. The page returned to him and he caught it, putting back in his book. He flipped a handful of pages over and straightened the book out. An ether popped out and he caught it. "This should make her feel just a little better and hopefully give her enough strength to at least wake up."

He dropped the item onto Kairi's chest where it glowed and slowly sank, spreading its blue glow all over her body. It didn't work immediately but Zexion still turned and walked away, shutting his Lexicon and extending a hand to Giselle to help her up. He opened another portal into the darkness and the two of them walked into it hand in hand. Max wasn't sure what to make of them yet and wondered if he should just let them leave but Kairi was still looking lifeless, so she was his priority for now. He took hold of both of her shoulders and shook her gently, calling her name as he did.

Finally she stirred and opened her eyes.


	35. Max Makes A Bold Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the battle, Kairi is given some time to recooperate while Giselle fumes. In the meantime, Max is confronted with a matter of the heart of his own.

The blinding flash faded and the four teenagers stuck behind the magic barrier uncovered their eyes. They checked themselves and each other first and foremost to make sure everyone was fine. They couldn't see around the corner from where they stood but the steam wasn't gaining in volume anymore.

"Do you think it's okay to check?" Stacey asked.

"Dunno," P.J. replied, "but we won't be able to do anything with this barrier in the way anyways."

He put his hand where he thought the barrier was and leaned… and he fell over.

"The barrier's down!" Roxanne gasped. She took off running to get around the corner and into the square. Stacey and Bobby were right behind her.

"Hey! Wait for me guys!" P.J. exclaimed, getting up and running as fast as he could to catch up.

Max's ears perked up at the sound of his name being called by a sweet, familiar voice. He looked up quickly and butterflies fluttered inside his stomach when he saw his crush running straight towards him. "Roxanne…" he replied weakly.

"Oh, Max, I'm so glad you're okay," Roxanne said with a sigh of relief, coming to a stop beside a barely conscious Kairi. "Who's this? Is she okay?"

"This is Kairi," Max answered, "but I don't know if she's alright." He leaned over her and took her chin between two fingers, tilting her head to look directly at him. "Kairi? Can you hear me?"

"M… Max…" Kairi answered weakly.

"Whew! I'm glad you're okay. What happened to you?"

"I… I don't…" Kairi muttered. She tried to push herself up but her arms wobbled and she dropped back to the ground. Max put an arm around her back and helped her sit up. "I only remember going out of town to skate and then… oh, yeah, the white witch!"

"The one who uses ice magic?" Max clarified.

"Yeah, her. She came along and did something… I think she tried to turn me into a Heartless. I fought back but I only remember blurs and this really, really strong feeling like… like anger."

"It wasn't a Heartless that she got you with, it was an Unversed… whatever that is," Max told her. She stared at him in shock. "Darn. I knew I should have tried to stop them from getting away."

"Max, what's going on?" Roxanne asked. "What happened here?"

"Er… I think I can explain everything," Max said tentatively, "but I think we should take Kairi back to the castle. She's pretty weak. Maybe I'll be able to explain on the way."

He hoisted Kairi onto his back with Bobby's help and adjusted her comfortably. He led the way back through the town. P.J., Stacey and Bobby asked excited questions, wanting to be the first to be in on what happened behind the barrier before anybody else figured it out. Roxanne, however, just listened intently, watching Kairi's heavy-eyed expression as she seemed to doze off every now and again.

" _Poor girl,"_ she thought. _"Going through all of that must have sapped her of everything. She and Max seem pretty close though. I wonder if they're…"_

* * *

The Snow Queen clenched her fists and summoned a snowman in front of her, only to smash it with a kick. She folded her leg halfway back and then repeated the move while leaning back so that her foot went as high as a grand battement. Her leg came down, leaving her back arched. She slowly pulled her body back up and then lifted her arms aggressively, using that small momentum to propel a single half turn. She put her weight on the leg she stepped onto and dropped into a plié, letting the other leg flick up and her arms dropped. They were promptly raised again as she hopped onto pointe and drew her working leg into a triple pirouette. She kept her spotting on the object of her current frustration. There at the end of the throne room Zexion was sitting in her throne with his legs crossed casually and holding his book in his lap, muttering to it. She finished her twirl and swept her back leg to the front to do a skip, beating one leg against the other, followed by a grand jeté. She bouréed the rest of the way and then pranced up the steps to stand right in front of the Nobody. He ignored her. She clamped a hand down on his shoulder.

"Why did you try to save her?" she hissed. "With her magic that drained she might have just died on her own. Her usefulness to us has already been expended."

Zexion paused in his note-taking and rolled his eyes upwards to look at her but didn't lift his head. "Her usefulness to you, perhaps. I believe that the extent of her powers is well worth researching. No academic that I am aware of has endeavoured to research a Princess of Heart in detail."

Giselle squeezed harder, deliberately digging her nails into his flesh but he seemed unfazed by that. "She'll only be a nuisance in the future. She'll steal your heart before you gain it."

"I would put her well past that. She may be a potentially powerful proponent of the light but at the moment she's wishy-washy. I don't see that changing anytime soon."

Giselle harrumphed and tore her hand away, turning her back on Zexion and folding her arms. As much as she knew Zexion was probably right, she still held a grudge against Kairi. _"She could still take him away… after he's taken his heart he might have no reason to stay; he'll just use me."_

She turned around and snapped Zexion's book shut. He looked up at her. "Tomorrow," she snapped. "Tomorrow I'll secure the final piece and give you your heart back."

* * *

Max carried Kairi all the way to her room with his friends in tow, equally worried even though they knew her less well. P.J. opened the door to the pink room so that Max could carry her in. They walked in on Tabitha making her daily cleaning rounds. She caught sight of the state Kairi was in and dropped the feather duster and dust rag she was holding, as well as her jaw.

"Goodness gracious!" she exclaimed. "What's happened? You'd better bring her over to the bed right now."

The cat maid hurried over to the bed to pull the covers back. Max put her down on the edge of the bed but she was too tired to sit up and fell back onto the pillows. The rest of the company barged in and crowded around her, expressing their concern until Tabitha shooed them out.

"She'll need her rest now," she scolded, waving a finger at the teenagers. "It's best not to crowd her. Now the Valentine's Day Festival has already begun, why don't you youngsters do something productive outside?"

"Hey, Tabitha," Max interrupted, seeing the bored looks on his friends faces as the maid patronised them, "maybe it's a good idea to get Kairi some water or something. I think an ether or elixir would help too."

"Oh! Yes, that would help."

The maid hurried off to fetch some water. Kairi giggled and Max turned to her. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"I'll be fine. You were pretty awesome today, thank-you."

"Aw, gee, no need to thank me. I wasn't really there to look out for you in the first place," Max admitted. He glanced at the door. His friends weren't game enough to venture back in so he continued in a low voice, "truth is, I probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't think that it would look good in front of Roxanne. I was only being selfish and trying to show off. Your Unversed was wicked strong too. I could have been defeated and then who knows what might have happened."

Kairi smiled wryly. "Actually, I'm a little embarrassed that I turned into one of them. I overestimated my own ability just because I'm a Princess of Heart. I guess I was also a little blinded by rage."

"Why? Who would wanna make a girl like you angry?"

"I don't think he intended to but if he did, he's a jerk."

"Z?" Max guessed.

Kairi was about to correct him but clamped her mouth shut. Would knowing Zexion's real name mean anything to him? And if it did, what then? Why did she get the feeling that she didn't want Zexion to be destroyed like any other Nobody? She didn't like them. They deliberately caused her pain and caused her friends pain. She was happy when Xemnas was destroyed and The World That Never Was crumbled out of existence. She'd thought that it represented her friends' complete freedom from the tyranny of the darkness but the Organisation was still alive if this one member managed to make it. It was as if her stomach was being filled with concrete as she nodded to answer Max's question.

"Tell me what he looks like and I'll make sure to punch him in the face if I ever see him."

Kairi genuinely laughed at that. "That wouldn't prove anything but it's nice to know that you care so much about me." She glanced towards the door. She caught a glimpse of auburn hair through the gap as it disappeared behind the door. "That girl – Roxanne – I guess you like her, right?"

Max blushed. "Wh-what makes you say that?"

"You said yourself that you were only trying to show off in front of her."

"W-well, yeah. But I mean, I haven't really got a chance with her anyway. Y'know, she's easily one of the prettiest girls at my school – probably _the_ prettiest – and I'm just some trainee soldier at the castle."

"That's pretty special," Kairi voiced her thoughts. "Why don't you ask her out? To the ball, I mean."

Max spluttered. "The Valentine's Day Ball? I can't do that on the first date! That's a huge step. And besides, I haven't got enough pocket munny to get a ticket for the both of us."

"Don't worry about it, I won two tickets at a shop the other day. I'll let you have them so that you can take Roxanne to the ball."

"R-really, you'd do that?"

"Sure. Just remind me to find them for you once I've rested up."

"Gee, thanks Kai."

At that moment Tabitha returned with tray carrying a jug of cold water and a mega-ether. She demanded that Max also leave the room and he did so, hoping Kairi got enough rest. His friends were still loitering in the corridor when he closed the door behind him.

"You know, you guys didn't have to stay out here just because Tabitha threw you out," he told them.

"We thought you wanted to talk to Kairi, dude," Bobby replied with a shrug. "Man, I just remembered that I left my backpack at the skate park and I'm craving some serious cheesing right now."

"Oh yeah," Max remembered. "I think I dropped my skateboard in the newsagency. I hope it didn't get smashed by anything."

"Let's go back and get our stuff," P.J. suggested, "and see what's happened to the square. Maybe the police have already set up a blockade! That'd be cool. Do you girls wanna come?"

"Sure, why not?" Stacey agreed. "We were just going to the library because they were going to do a classic romance novel event for the festival but I think it's safe to say that it's cancelled."

"Awesome, let's go."

The group left together, mostly excited to see what had transpired in the square after they'd left. Roxanne tapped Max on the arm, silently asking him to hang back from the main group.

"Are you going to the ball this year?" she asked.

He gulped. Taking a deep breath he turned away and rubbed the back of his neck, hoping she couldn't see him blush. "Um, well, not really, I guess… I mean, I could- I mean, I want to…"

"Are you going with Kairi? You're pretty lucky, she seems like a really nice person."

"Huh? Kairi? No!" Max denied. "We just became good friends because her best friend knows my dad through something or other…"

"Oh? But I heard you discussing it with her; about taking someone to the ball on the first date. I think that's pretty huge too, it's probably not a good idea."

"What? Oh…" Max deflated a bit. He'd had just a little bit more hope after Kairi had given him her offer but if Roxanne thought it was a stupid idea then he wouldn't get far. "Actually, we were only talking about it because Kairi won these tickets to the ball. But I don't think she has anyone to take so she gave them to me."

"Really? Do you have someone in mind?"

"Well, honestly… I wanted to ask you to come to the ball with me, Roxanne," Max said, pressing his index fingers together. He didn't look at her, he was quite afraid to. He chewed on his bottom lip through the silence between them that felt like it would last forever. Just as he steeled his heart for rejection the short, sweet answer came:

"Sure."


	36. Where is My Sun?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unexpected visitors drop in.

The mega-ether had helped a lot but Kairi was still quite tired. Tabitha had forced her to get into bedclothes and ordered her to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed. Not that she was complaining about that. The mattress and pillows felt as fluffy as heavenly clouds when she was this tired. She stared at the view from her window. There was now a thin layer of cloud covering everything, which was disappointing when the weather that morning had been so promising. She wondered when winter would become spring. Soon, hopefully.

_"Wait, what's spring?"_ she thought but her mind immediately conjured up images of flowers and cute baby animals, the sound of laughter and a feeling of joy. Spring must have been something she liked.

She languidly slid herself out of bed and shuffled over to the window, leaning her forehead against the cold glass. It surprised her how fast the weather could turn. She hoped that it would change again soon – it would be awful if Minnie and Daisy's performance had to be cancelled.

Staring out at the snowy gardens felt familiar somehow. Even though she was so unaccustomed to the perpetual gloom of the winter weather she recognised everything. There were only a few things that stopped this scene from being complete but she couldn't remember what they were; only that something was missing. But there was a lot more missing. Earlier that day when she'd tried with all of her heart to fight against the darkness she thought she remembered something that had never happened in her memory.

_"Hi, I'm Kairi. What's your name?"_

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember the rest of it but it was just gone. She was talking to someone, wasn't she? Her head dropped so that her crown was cooling on the glass while she looked down at the moonstone dangling from her neck. Where had she gotten it? Despite not knowing its significance to her she wouldn't ever let a day go by where she went without it. She lifted her head again and shifted to sit on the windowsill, despite the chill giving her goosebumps. Something in her heart told her that it was only responsible to find out where her true origins lay but who knew where that would take her and if she'd ever be able to return.

The clouds blocked out the sky and when Kairi breathed out a dismal sigh the mist that formed on the window obscured her vision even more. "I don't know where I want to be. I love Sora and Riku but… but… I must have loved other people before, right? Do they miss me? They're probably waiting somewhere. All this time I was so happy to just wait there on the islands for Sora to come home but I never once thought that maybe there was someone out there who's been waiting a long time for me to come home; standing in the snow somewhere, looking to the sky.

_"Once upon a time_  
 _Way up in the bright blue sky_  
 _The sun shone down on the sea,"_ she sang quietly, closing her eyes.

In her mind's eye she saw the sea as if she was watching it from the little play island, ever the same and still home. For most of her life the idea that she could belong anywhere else would have made her laugh.

_"Down upon the beach_   
_With shiny sand so fine it squeaked_   
_Is where I thought I'd always be._

_"Where is the sun?"_

She opened her eyes and stared at the clouds overhead. There was only one way to discover what kind of world she came from but she wasn't sure if she was brave enough to follow through with it.

_"The dark clouds have come.  
Where is the sun for me?"_

She let out another sigh through her nose and continued her cloud gazing when suddenly something fell out of the thick cover and made its way down. Was that a…? It was! There was no mistaking the garish colours of a Gummi Ship. But with the hangars still undergoing repairs, where was it going to land?

The ship continued its gradual descent as it braked. It came low over the castle fairly noiselessly (Gummi Ship systems were wonderfully efficient) and disappeared from Kairi's view over the window jambs. She hopped off the sill and ran to her closet to get back into some clothes. Her legs and fingers were still shaky but she was suddenly pumped with excitement again. She just had to find out who was in that ship. Perhaps they could take her home… wherever she decided that was.

* * *

By the time she got outside the Gummi Ship was long gone. She left the castle grounds for the second time that day and ran as fast as she could, stumbling a bit on unsteady legs. Everyone else in the streets seemed to have noticed it too, so Kairi was able to easily get directions to follow it. They eventually led Kairi to the stone bridge on the edge of town. On a snow-covered field on the other side of the river the colourful spaceship rose like a sculpture. It was tipped onto its side and one wing had broken off and was sticking out of the white field like a huge green plank. The channel of upturned snow and dirt showed that it had been a bad landing.

Kairi ran across the field, hoping that whoever was inside wasn't hurt in the crash. Maybe it was that 'Uncle Scrooge' that Kairi had heard about. She swallowed a lump in her throat and kept going. She had been told that Uncle Scrooge was more than likely to refuse helping others but she could at least attempt to ask him if he would do her the favour of taking her back to the Destiny Islands.

When she made it to the ship the cockpit had just been forced open. Her jaw dropped. The two faces that appeared over the side of the cockpit were two that she thought she wouldn't see for a long time to come.

"Sora? Riku?"

Brown spikes barely even twitched as Sora turned his head to focus on her. Riku's hair was more fluid. Even though it was much shorter now it still swished like long grass in the wind. Sora's face immediately split into a wide grin while Riku smiled more demurely.

"Kairi!" the bubbly boy exclaimed, leaping out of the Gummi Ship, not caring about how high up it was. He landed safely on the snowy ground and when he straightened up he was bowled over by Kairi's tackling hug.

"Sora! I didn't think I'd see you so soon!" Kairi replied. She couldn't stop the grin on her face that was so huge she thought she could actually feel the skin on her face splitting. Sora returned her hug in full force.

The faint crunch of snow told them that Riku had also jumped down from the ship. Kairi looked up, her joyous expression didn't falter one bit. Riku's smile also widened even has he stood over them with his arms folded and a full-body shudder due to the cold. Neither of them had anticipated that it would be winter in Disney Town and they were both dressed for the never-ending summer of the Destiny Islands. Sora's shudders were also becoming more violent with each passing minute to the point that Kairi could feel it through her layers.

"If you two want to start that kind of thing could you at least wait until you have a little privacy?" Riku quipped, making Kairi and Sora blush vibrantly.

"Hey! I'm allowed to say hello to my best friends, aren't I?" Kairi retorted.

Riku chuckled and relented, opening his arms so that Kairi could stand up and give him a tight hug too. "Whoa, you're acting like you haven't seen us in years. You were only gone for a few days."

"I know but stuff happened," Kairi explained vaguely, "and I thought I wouldn't get to see you guys or the islands again for months." She was about to continue until she noticed how flushed Riku's face had gotten. "Maybe we should go inside before I start explaining."

"T-t-that sounds l-like a g-g-good idea," Sora managed to say as his teeth chattered. "I'm getting really wet down here."


	37. No Fear, Not I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi recounts to her friends all of the great things that have happened in Disney Town so far but perhaps they're not so impressed...

The guards were somewhat flabbergasted when Kairi returned with Sora and Riku in tow. She lent her coat to Sora so that he didn't have to wear his little, wet jacket while Riku got the scarf, gloves and hat (the latter two of which were clearly too small for him). Kairi insisted that she would be warm enough in the long winter dress she wore to make it back to the castle. It took some persuasion but she managed to convince the guards at the gates to let her friends in with her and once they were inside she took them straight up to her own bedroom.

"Wow," Sora gaped, looking around Kairi's room. "This place is so…"

"Pink," Riku finished for him.

"Yeah, isn't it nice? I've got a bathroom and everything," Kairi said, pointing to it. "It's that door right there. You guys should have a bath and warm up while I go and tell everyone that you're here! I bet King Mickey will be excited."

She left quickly, leaving no room for argument or discussion. Sora and Riku exchanged glances.

"So… you first?" Sora suggested, seeing as Riku was the one who was left most exposed to the cold.

* * *

Kairi came back almost an hour later with two armfuls of second-hand garments from the back room and found Riku standing by one of the windows wrapped in a towel and a spare sheet. He gazed far away into the distance, focusing on nothing but the horizon with an expression of impassive concentration enhanced by the shades of pale grey and white from the window. He hadn't noticed her coming in and only looked up when she giggled.

"Maybe you should put on some real clothes?" she said with a raised eyebrow. His lips quirked into a small smile.

"Is there anywhere else to change? Sora's still in the bathroom."

"Oh, come on. Aren't you both boys?"

Riku waved a hand vaguely, prompting Kairi to roll her eyes. "Okay, shy-boy. What's taking him so long?"

"Actually, he's only been in there for about ten minutes. We kinda had an argument for a while about who would get to go first," Riku told her with a wry smile and a one-shouldered shrug. "He won because my fingers started to turn blue."

"Geez, you really need this then," Kairi said, dumping the pile of clothes in the middle of her bed and closing the poster curtains on her side. "There's nowhere else in here to get changed but I promise I won't look. I'll stay right behind here."

"Thanks." Riku nodded even though she couldn't see it and left the window, letting the sheet and towel fall as he reached the bed. He sorted through the clothes that Kairi had picked out and put on a pair of jeans that were only just long enough for him, a long white shirt and a blue denim jacket. "You know, Sora and I were really upset that you disappeared like that."

"I figured as much," Kairi said matter-of-factly. "Are you finished?"

"Yeah."

She pulled the curtains open just a crack and then poked her head through. Riku couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up at the image of Kairi's head floating between lacy pink curtains. She grinned, letting out a small laugh as well. "You know, I was really scared," she admitted.

That cut Riku's laugh off immediately and he stared at her with a hard frown. "Scared? Why? Did something happen?"

"Nothing major," Kairi said with a cheeky eye roll and a sheepish smile that told Riku she was bending the truth but in a good way. Her gaze fell down to the clothes left on the bed. "Do you think we should pass these to Sora before he gets out?"

"I thought you'd want to see him naked."

Kairi blushed vibrantly. "Riku!"

Riku chuckled and shook his head, pressing his fingers to his temple as though he had a headache. "Don't worry, I'll do it."

He gathered up the pile of clothes and carried them over to the bathroom door. He did a precarious balancing act to shift the pile enough to get the door open with his elbow and pushed the door open. Kairi snickered when she heard Sora surprised exclamation.

"Make sure you put something on before you come out. You wouldn't want to leave mental scars on our fair maiden," Riku said in a teasing tone. He shut the door quickly and the subsequent _thud_ against the door sounded like a shampoo bottle. Kairi pushed the curtains open a bit more and climbed onto her bed to sit in the middle of it. Riku returned and sat on the edge. Kairi cocked her head to the side and examined Riku. He raised an eyebrow at that but let her scrutinise him. She was glad to see both him and Sora but something was a little off. Riku brought his fingers up to massage his temple again.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I hope not," she replied. His gaze whipped straight back to her, wide-eyed. "I mean, not that I expect anything to be out of order," she quickly continued. She swallowed and decided to dive in at the deep end: "Are you feeling okay? Do you have a headache?"

Riku just grunted quietly and rubbed his temples again. "Maybe it's just the cold… I'm sure it'll go away soon; nothing to worry about. I'm more concerned about you. This is King Mickey's castle, isn't it? And yet you said you're scared…"

"Not in the castle," Kairi said, shaking her head. "This is a great place and the king and queen are so hospitable. I met a bunch of great people here and they've been so nice. I've had so much fun."

"You met King Mickey and Queen Minnie?" Sora interjected, coming out of the bathroom while pulling on a yellow hoodie that was slightly too big for him. "How are they? And did you see Donald and Goofy too?"

"The king and queen are busy, usually," Kairi replied, "and Donald and Goofy are fine. But I really missed you guys. I know it hasn't really been that long but I didn't plan on being here at all. Getting here was so sudden and unexpected and at first I thought that there was no way back. I had no idea what to do. If The King hadn't found me in the street that night I wouldn't have anywhere to go or know who to talk to. I guess I had a stroke of good luck meeting up with The King like that."

"I'll say! I'm just glad you're okay," Sora said with a relieved sigh. "Everyone on the islands freaked out when you went missing. We searched everywhere for you, including Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie and even your dad pitched in."

Kairi picked up one of her pillows and hugged it, pulling her mouth into a grim line. "Sorry… it was pretty reckless of me to leave like that, wasn't it?"

"It's water under the bridge now," Riku said, shrugging. "Now that we know you're safe and everything's okay we can just go back home."

Kairi's eyes shifted. "Actually, do you mind staying a bit longer? I mean, you guys are going to have to fix your Gummi Ship anyway and… how did you even get a Gummi Ship?"

Sora and Riku exchanged sheepish glances. "It's a long story and not really important right now," Sora said. "But why do you wanna stay? We told everyone at home that we would definitely bring you back as soon as we found you."

"Did you put a time limit on that?"

"Well… no…"

"Then just pretend it took a bit longer to find me. Besides, you'll need to fix up your Gummi Ship before flying home. Do you have any idea how you're going to do that?"

"The wing looks like it only peeled off," Riku replied.

"We just need to get it upright again and get some rope to make a pulley and it's easy to stick back on," Sora explained. "It probably won't even take more than an hour. Why do you want to stay so badly?"

"Because there's so much cool stuff going on," Kairi just blurted out. "Did you know that it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and there's a three-day festival that started today? And there's going to be a ballet recital tonight and then tomorrow there's an ice skating show and a huge ball. Not to mention all the cool stuff that's already happened!"

"Huh? Did you find some kind of cool sport?" Sora asked.

"Well, yeah. But it was mainly fighting monsters and such. And I just have to say that I came out alright in the end. So, when you make your decision about King Mickey's letter I'm sure I'll be able to come along this time. You won't have to worry about me at all."

The look on Sora and Riku's faces was not the one that she was expecting. Their jaws set and their eyes went so wide that Kairi thought the sockets would stretch too far for the eyeballs and they'd fall out.

"Monsters? Like Heartless?" Sora inquired, grabbing Kairi by the wrist. "C'mon, tell the truth. Are you really not hurt?"

"Of course I'm not! There's stuff called potions and Cure magic, y'know," Kairi retorted. She stood up on her bed and twisted out of Sora's grasp, crossing her arms. "What? Did you think I would always be weak and completely useless after The World That Never Was?"

"You weren't weak and completely useless then… but I think you probably have a different skill set."

"Oh, sure," Kairi snapped back, rolling her eyes again.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Gee, Kairi, don't be like that. I mean, after I went all the way to The End of the World to find you and Riku, I figured that this request Mickey sent me would be something I would do on my own. I don't want to lose either of you again."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Riku interrupted. "Alone?"

"Sora, we don't want to lose you either," Kairi argued. "I thought that anything we decided after the last journey would be something we all did together."

"Kairi, forgive me but as much as I agree with you I don't really think you're adventure material," Riku said.

Kairi gaped at him. "Are you serious? That's it? You _boys_ think you're the only ones up for the challenge? I've grown too."

"Well, I haven't really seen you prove it," Sora admitted. "It's okay if you're not the fighting type-"

"Stop right there," Kairi cut in, "and let me get something through to you:

 _"Don't tell me what I am capable of_  
_I'm more than I appear._  
_Let me explain the adventures I've had_  
_While the two of you weren't here."_

Sora and Riku exchanged glances. They both shrunk a little as they had an inkling of an idea where this was going. Kairi fell back onto her bed, letting herself bounce high on the mattress once before propping herself up on her elbow to stare down the two boys in front of her.

 _"Well admittedly, my first fight wasn't great._  
_But that's when I began to learn_  
_That it's time to concentrate._  
_The royalty dispelled the threat_  
_And in that moment I did elect_  
_To never feel that fear again, not I."_

"I hope you weren't hoping to be convincing with that because that is not convincing," Riku told her.

"Oh, that's just the beginning," Kairi said, waving her finger at him. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed between them.

 _"I was the shining knight in the Castle halls,"_ she sang, summoning her Keyblade and lifting it like a sword,  
_"Who led the infantry in battle so bold."_

Riku shook his head. "You did not."

"I did!" Kairi retorted.

 _"And when hope was lost_  
_I cast the spell that released the helpless souls_  
_From the grasp of darkened monsters that I quelled."_

"Kairi, you can't cast a fishing rod, how did you cast a spell," Sora quipped with a cheeky grin. The smile disappeared quickly when Kairi brandished the Keyblade right up to his nose.

"I did, okay," she replied dryly.

_"I felt no fear at all, my courage swelled."_

Kairi twirled the Keyblade, moving safely away from any person or object in the room before she made her next point:

 _"But wait, there's more! The very next week,_  
_I fought another monster in the streets._  
 _I looked it in eyes_  
 _But I refused to cry._  
 _'Cause when I fought_  
_It was not fear I felt, not I."_

"I highly doubt that you improved that much in a week," Riku deadpanned. He fought the urge to smack himself in the forehead when he looked at Sora and saw that while his jaw had dropped he couldn't keep the smile off his face. Sometimes the kid was just too easy to convince.

"I'm not making it up, ask anyone," said Kairi with a frown.

 _"And anyone will say it's also true_  
_That I saved the queen and princess too._  
_I would not back down before_  
_Any kind of witch, what's more,_  
_I won and all was well for all involved."_

"Wow, was that a really tough one?" Sora asked.

"Oh, you bet," Kairi answered with a smirk, dismissing the Keyblade on command. She could see the little sparkle in his eyes that meant he was turning around to the idea of her being a warrior and was genuinely impressed by her story. "But I totally thrashed it. And that's not even the end of it:

 _"Then the last but not least of my trials_  
_Was a battle with a witch most vile._  
_And though she turned me to the dark_  
_I wasn't to be taken_  
_And I broke the chains_  
_That bound my heart apart."_

She put her hands on her hips and stood squarely in front of her friends, shaking her head at them.

 _"And I wasn't useless and I wasn't weak_  
_And I wasn't defeated and I wasn't meek_  
_And it wasn't fear I felt, no not me."_

"Okay, that does it," Riku interrupted, holding up his hands as if that would just make everything stop. Sora pouted. "Kairi, none of that sounded too good. I mean, even if it did happen, there is no way you could have done it by yourself."

"Well… no," Kairi confessed, looking away.

"So what?" Sora suddenly exclaimed, making Riku and Kairi turn to him. "It doesn't matter if Kairi had none or twenty people helping her out. I bet I would have never even made it out of Traverse Town if I didn't have the help of Goofy and Donald. Not to mention Leon, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid. And Kairi, I know you're trying to make us stop worrying about you now but it's okay to stop pretending that you were stronger than you really were in all of those stories. I'm not dumb; I can tell that you're exaggerating. It sounds like some adventure. I'm sure you really are stronger now than you were before. This time, you really have changed. Really."

Kairi blushed. She clasped her hands behind her back and scuffed her boots on the floor.

"So, can you tell us more?" Sora requested, sitting down on Kairi's bed.

"Sure—oh! Wait!" Kairi gasped, grabbing each boy's wrist. "We should talk this over with The King and Queen and everyone else involved. I'm sure that'll even convince Riku."

Riku rolled his eyes but smiled as Kairi yanked them both to their feet. He could tell that there was definitely some truth to her lyrics – her grip felt tighter and her pull felt harder – but if he allowed himself to admit it he was afraid that it would set her on that goal of following them. The universe was generally an unforgiving place and he was in some regards glad that despite all that had happened Kairi hadn't been in a position to experience it all firsthand. He didn't want it to break her like it did to him and almost did to Sora. No one was strong enough to stand tall when the universe pushed them down. So that she would never have the scrapes on her knees from being forced to kneel, so that she would never have the bruises on her arms from being forced to follow, so that she would never have the graze on her head from being forced to bow, Riku vowed that he would find a way to keep her safe on the islands.

In the meantime, though, it would be nice to see King Mickey again.


	38. Tea Time Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi, Sora and Riku have tea with the king and queen of Disney Town and one of Kairi's memories bubbles to the surface.

Kairi burst into the antechamber before the royal offices, startling the secretary. It was a nice room with a plush red rug covering most of the floor space and a ceiling painting of blue sky, fluffy clouds and soaring sparrows that looked so real it seemed as though there wasn't a ceiling at all. The left wall had a floor to ceiling bookshelf packed with leather-bound tomes and boxes and binders full of documents. The other wall had smaller shelves set into the wall behind the secretary's desk and beside that, a row of filing cabinets. In the front right corner was a large basket for a very large, lanky dog. Pluto suddenly sat up in his bed with his ears erect and alert. Upon seeing who caused the disturbance – and seeing who she'd brought with her – his tongue rolled out of his mouth as it spread into a doggy grin. He jumped up, barking happily and bounded the short distance across the room to greet the three teens.

"Hey, it's King Mickey's dog!" Sora laughed as Pluto jumped up and down around him, occasionally licking his face. He tried to push the dog away but Pluto was very insistent on having his affections felt. "What's his name again?"

"It's Pluto," Kairi replied, turning straight to the secretary. "We'd like to see the king and queen please."

The secretary spluttered. "You can't just apparently barge in here and make a request like that. Apparently you'll need to make an appointment."

"Do they have any appointments right now?"

"Apparently, no," he said, looking down at the day's schedule, "but it's still apparently highly improper for someone to make any kind of arrangement with the king or queen at short notice."

"His use of the word 'apparently' is also improper," Riku whispered to Sora. The spiky-haired boy snickered.

"Why? Are they busy now?" Kairi pressed, placing her hands on the edge of the desk and leaning in expectantly.

"Let's find out," Sora said, casually making his way to the office door on the far side of the room and knocking.

"Now wait just a minute!" the secretary exclaimed, standing up all of a sudden. "Apparently you can't just charge into the royal offices and-"

The door opened and everyone turned to look down at the little black mouse who had answered. It was Queen Minnie. She put a hand to her lips to cover a small gasp of surprise and smiled brightly.

"Why, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" she remarked. "Sora! How did you make it here?"

"Hi, Queen Minnie. Long time, no see," Sora said with a grin and a wave. "Riku's here too."

The queen opened the door further and leaned to the side to look past Sora. Riku hadn't moved far from the entrance and stood by examining the ceiling. He looked down at the mention of his name and waved at Minnie. She pushed the office door open wider and stood to the side.

"You know, Mickey and I were just sitting down to have an afternoon tea break. Why don't you come in and share it with us?" she offered.

"Sweet! We got here in time for lunch," Sora exclaimed with a grin, taking up the queen's invitation to enter despite the spluttered protests from the secretary. Kairi left the secretary's desk to follow Sora and Riku trailed her. The secretary sighed and sat down again. In the end, if the queen wished it he had no authority to turn them down.

Sora gaped at the room they'd entered. In the past he'd thought that Mickey's office was in that little library next to the throne room but this was a _real_ office for proper _government_ business. The king and queen each had a desk facing each other and pushed together in the middle of the room. On the opposite wall was a long row of tall windows, underneath which was a long row of filing cabinets. The two adjacent walls were bare except for the double doors that were currently firmly closed on the left wall and the fireplace that was crackling merrily. On either side of the door from the antechamber were shelves lined with serious books and folders. In front of the fireplace were two cushy sofas and a coffee table between them that was being meticulously laid out by the furry, pink-nosed maid who Kairi normally saw at mealtimes. There was a tray of small sandwiches and a bowl of fruit that was to be eaten with the tea of the day. The maid poured two cups of tea, one for the king and one for the queen.

King Mickey hadn't left his desk yet. He looked up as soon as Sora had bounded in. He dropped his pen in surprise. "Sora? Golly gosh, this sure is unexpected." He pushed his chair back and hopped down onto the floor. Kairi followed Sora in promptly, looking around the big official room. Riku also cast a curious glance around the room as he entered but was a lot better at hiding his amazement. "Riku too?"

Riku's eyes snapped straight to The King and he smiled. "Yep, the one and only," he replied cheekily.

"Wow, I've never been in your office before," Kairi commented, tentatively taking steps into the room but not quite sure where she wanted to go. "It actually kinda reminds me of my dad's."

"We got your letter," Sora explained, making his way over to the sofas and plonking himself down on the cushions. "I mean the second one."

"You sure know how to make yourself at home," Riku joked, making his way over to the sofa where Sora sat and glancing at Mickey and Minnie.

"Oh, please, do join us," Minnie invited them.

Riku nodded and sat down next to Sora. He allowed Sora to almost squish him into the arm of the furniture so that Kairi had enough room to sit on the spiky-haired boy's other side. The maid at work wasn't the least bit surprised by the sudden company or if she was she didn't show it. Instead, she pulled aside the curtains that hid the lower levels of her trolley to reveal plenty of spare cutlery and crockery. She procured three extra teacups and saucers, each with a teaspoon and filled them with steaming hot tea. Kairi smiled and pulled one cup towards her as she thanked the maid.

"Not at all, ma'am," the maid replied with a smile and a wiggle of the nose. "It's no trouble at all. Would you like milk and sugar with it?"

"I think I can manage that myself," Kairi assured her, picking two sugar cubes from the sugar bowl with the small tongs and pouring a dash of milk. As she picked up her teaspoon and stirred it methodically Sora and Riku gawked.

"How do you know this tea ceremony?" Riku asked, cocking his head to the side a bit. Sora and Kairi both turned to him with incredulous expressions while the royal mice sitting on the other sofa couldn't help snickering. Riku's face flushed bright red.

"It's not a ceremony," Sora said. "That's just how some people in other worlds drink tea. Haven't you seen it before?"

"I-I have!" Riku said quickly. "But people seem to do it so systematically that I just thought… Kairi, you're really good at it. Did you learn that here?"

Kairi blinked and looked down at her hand. Actually, she hadn't drunk a lot of tea, even though the weather was so cold and perfect for it. Even on the Destiny Islands she was not a fan of tea drinking or even tea making so the dexterity with which her fingers guided the spoon around and around her cup in a clockwise direction surprised her.

"Yeah, I guess so," she answered anyway. Riku frowned, hearing the hint of uncertainty in her reply.

"In any case, it's great to see you two again so soon," King Mickey interrupted, turning the conversation to the boys. "I didn't expect to see you until you were ready to go on adventures again."

"We couldn't stay away when we found out Kairi was here," Sora replied, sheepishly rubbing his upper lip, "especially since everyone on the islands is really worried about her. My little sister found your bottle and gave it to me but we were already planning to leave and go looking by then."

Kairi giggled. _"It couldn't have been more than two days at that point,"_ she thought. "These two are just as hopeless as me, I guess."

"It was pretty much decided from the get-go," Sora continued. "I got some Gummi Ship blueprints that were saved in my journal and then Riku and I snuck into the quarry to get all the Gummi we needed to build it."

Kairi had just taken her first sip of tea and immediately spat it back out again. "You stole from the quarry!" she exclaimed. Mickey and Minnie looked equally shocked.

"Sora, Kairi is perfectly safe here," Minnie assured him. "It really isn't necessary to go to such… desperate measures." She twitched her lips awkwardly at the euphemism.

"It's not technically stealing if they just throw it out, right?" Sora argued.

"That's what we figured, at least," Riku chimed in. "When Sora first came up with the idea I didn't think it was going to work because we didn't have Gummi blocks. Then we found a huge deposit of it in a quarry pit. It seems that the world's heart was opened some time ago but nobody ever figured out what the Gummi was. They just mine it out, separate it from the rocks and then throw it into pits and bury it."

"Well, it's in bad shape now anyway," Sora sighed. "We're not going anywhere until we fix it but we should be able to do it quickly, right? Can we borrow the hangar?" he added excitedly, shuffling to the edge of the seat. "I've always wanted to find out what it would be like to use all of that cool equipment."

"Aw, sorry guys," Mickey said apologetically, "but if you need to make repairs you'll need to find another way. The castle hangar got busted up in an incident last week and everything's out of order."

Riku looked at Kairi over Sora's back. "You mentioned a few incidents a few minutes ago."

Kairi blinked and exchanged stares with him. Then she gasped as if she'd just remembered it. "Oh, yeah, that's why we were here! Sora and Riku seem to think that I'm no good as a fighter and I only brought them here so that they could hear a proper witness testimony," she replied, putting her cup and saucer down. She stood up suddenly, jumping onto the sofa in her excitement. "So, there have been these huge creatures… of dark… ness…"

She suddenly felt as if she was submerged in water. Everything seemed to move slowly and she couldn't work out why the world was starting to tip. It momentarily occurred to her that judging by the way the light was dimming she might be passing out but by the time it had faded to black all thoughts ceased.

* * *

_The little girl watched intently as the gnarled old hands of the woman in front of her poured out the fragrant tea carefully. The old grandmother methodically dropped in two sugar cubes and a dash of milk so easily as if it was merely a habit. She stirred briskly, mixing up the milk, sugar, and tea into her perfect blend. The little girl's eyes wandered over the vase of handpicked flowers that she'd acquired that morning in one of the town's many gardens. She loved her home. She enjoyed picking the flowers that were bountiful during springtime and hoped that she would never ever have to leave._

" _Would you like a cup too, dear?" the old woman asked._

" _I wanna make it," the little girl insisted, reaching out to grab the pot. She touched the ceramic side and yelped when it burned her._

" _Careful, it's still very hot," her grandmother warned her. "You must hold it by the handle."_

_She picked up the teapot and poured the tea into an empty cup for the girl. The child smiled and nodded, not really heeding the warning in her eagerness to complete the recipe herself. She slowly and carefully added her sugar and milk as if she was doing a science experiment rather than sweetening tea. Her stirring was unskilled, causing a few large drops to end up in the saucer instead. When she deemed that it was ready, she took a spoonful of her mixture and brought it to her lips._

" _Blow on it first, don't drink it straight away or it'll burn you."_

_Again, the warning went unheeded._

" _Ah! Ith Hoth!" the little girl exclaimed, dropping her spoon and taking large gulps of the apple juice that was given to her earlier as an alternative to the tea. Her tongue felt numb and her juice didn't taste as sweet._

_The old woman just chuckled. "Oh, I told you, didn't I? Don't worry, your tongue will be right as rain in just a few days."_

_The little girl moaned and slumped onto the table. Her grandmother admonished her but she didn't pay attention. She just stared moodily at the drawing room window and the people passing by on the street. A tall young woman with blue hair passed by wearing a tight outfit and some armour. She was straight and rigid as she walked – clearly someone who was trained and disciplined for combat but the little girl had no way of knowing that. The woman turned her head briefly as she passed the window and the child was struck with awe at the strength, perception, and resolve in those piercing blue eyes._


	39. The Old Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now it's Kairi's time to take a breather while more memories resurface.

_Those fingers were definitely feminine but very unladylike. The fingernails were filed down as short as possible and there were small scars and callouses that were mostly hidden behind the glove but the fingers were left to bear all. The woman who owned those hardened fingers tapped the moonstone at her chest, causing a brief twinkle that the child would have missed if she'd only blinked._

" _That was a magic spell…"_

* * *

Kairi slowly came around, warm and comfortable in her bed. It was dark and silent all around her; all she could hear was the ticking of the wall clock. She sat up, squinting her eyes while they adjusted to the darkness and feeling her surroundings to get her bearings. She was back in her room and tucked under the covers, wearing her nightgown again like she had been when Tabitha put her to bed earlier in the afternoon.

"Wait," she muttered to herself sleepily, "did I dream all of that? Have I been here the whole time?"

With newfound energy she swung out of bed and stumbled as soon as she got to her feet. She had to lean back and let herself fall back onto her mattress. Her knees were shaky. She sat up and slowly got back to standing, feeling a little bit more stable now but still weak in the legs. She managed to shuffle over to her desk to pick up her cardigan and wrap it around herself as the chill started to settle into her flesh. Her back, shoulders and knees ached but stretching didn't help. With a heavy sigh, she trudged back across the room to her bathroom.

That visit had felt so real she had no idea how she'd possibly dreamed that. A few splashes of water on her face might help to clear her groggy state of mind so she stepped into the bathroom, flicking on the light as she entered and standing in the doorway for a moment blinking bleary-eyed at the wall while she got used to the light. She turned her head to search for the sink but her eyes immediately gravitated towards something abnormal. It was quite obvious that it was out of place because it was the only thing in the room that wasn't pink or white. She blinked suddenly, feeling a little bit more awake as she tried to identify it. Draped over her little bathroom stool was a messy pile of clothes. They were dark, coarse and baggy, definitely nothing that she'd ever been dressed in while staying at the castle. Her socks slid across the tiled floor as she made her way to the stool and picked up the item on top. It was a small, grey, hooded jacket. It was still a little cold and damp but Kairi definitely recognised it. Her whole body, heavy since she'd woken alone in the dark suddenly felt as though she was going to lift off and her face brightened with a grin. She knew it; she hadn't dreamed it.

Walking back into her bedroom – going no faster than that for her bones were still sore – she put on her boots and her white coat over her cardigan. She figured she wouldn't bother with getting dressed properly because this time she only planned to walk about the castle.

* * *

Kairi had poked her head around all of the corners and travelled down all of the corridors she could think to. There was no sign of Sora or Riku. Eventually, she stepped outside into the castle's colonnade. It certainly looked better now that workmen and magicians had completely fixed the damage done by those two Unversed. The stone and plaster were meticulously repaired leaving nary a crack but the carpet had been taken away. She looked over the balustrade into the courtyard beyond. The entrance to the Gummi Ship Hangar was cordoned off with red and white tape and wooden barriers. The rest of the garden, however, was gone. The ruined plants had to be taken out and since there was no hope to make them grow back again during winter, they weren't replanted. The courtyard was now a lonely square box that was raked down smoothly and covered in a layer of snow. There wasn't much fun or wonder to be had in a dim courtyard illuminated only by the glow of light from the colonnade so Kairi turned and made her way back into the castle. She was about to make a second round of the castle, thinking that maybe the boys were moving around the castle as well and she had just missed them, but then she suddenly turned a corner and bumped into someone familiar.

"Oops, sorry—Max!" Kairi exclaimed.

The dog boy rubbed his nose and looked up, smiling. "Hey, Kairi. What's up?"

"I was just looking for some friends of mine who arrived here this afternoon," Kairi replied. "Have you seen them?"

"Were they the two guys – one of them was kinda short and the other one was pretty tall – with the spiky hair and the silver hair?"

"Yeah! That's them; Sora and Riku."

"They left the castle a while ago," Max told her, quirking his lips to the side sheepishly. "What happened, by the way?"

"Huh?"

"We talked when they left because dad forced me to go with him to see Monnie's stupid ballet and the King apparently gave them some munny to go into town," Max huffed, adding with a grumble: "The King never gave me munny to go to town."

"Monnie's ballet isn't stupid, I thought it was great," Kairi blurted out. "But why are you back when they aren't?"

Max shrugged. "They just wanted to stay out a little more and explore the town. I don't think either of them has ever really seen it. They went to the ballet too but they said that you might not have woken up by now and didn't want to disturb you or something."

"Oh, that…" Kairi murmured. "I passed out. In front of the king and queen and everything, it was so embarrassing," she finished with a giggle, trying to make light of it but the strained expression on her face drained the words of their mirth. Max just looked impassive to that.

"I'm not surprised, actually," he admitted. "I thought you'd gotten up a little too quickly."

Kairi blinked. She hadn't expected that response. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "What? Didn't you think I was strong enough?"

"I think you were still high on adrenalin after what happened this morning. You've been working yourself really hard all week. Maybe tomorrow you should take a proper break."

He smiled sincerely in a way that Kairi knew meant that he didn't think little of her in any way. She returned the smile and let her arms lower. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll go out and find them and then-"

"I think you should start now," Max interrupted. "Just go back to bed and sleep until noon or something. You'll just end up collapsing again if you don't."

Kairi wanted to retort but couldn't find a solid argument against that. She conceded, knowing that Sora and Riku wouldn't leave without her and there was plenty of time to catch up with each other tomorrow. She and Max said goodnight to each other and were about to go their separate ways when all of a sudden Kairi remembered something important.

"Max, wait!" she exclaimed, turning around and reaching towards him. He stopped and turned around, his floppy ears perked forward. Kairi jogged back to him while slipping her hand into the pocket of her coat where she knew she'd put the ball tickets. She pulled them out, still tucked into the envelope they'd been presented in at the bakery, and handed them to the dog boy. "Here… for you and Roxanne."

Max grinned and took the tickets. He gave her a two-fingered mock salute as he said his thanks and turned to walk again. Kairi felt lighter as she walked back to her room, satisfied that she'd made good on her promise.

* * *

After sleeping for so long and going on that brisk walk Kairi wasn't sleepy enough to go back to bed by the time she got back to her room. Instead she left the lights on, removed her coat and boots and sat down at her desk. Sitting cross-legged on her chair, she absentmindedly flipped through the numerous drawings she'd done. Most were still sketchy, few were refined. They weren't in the order that she remembered leaving them. She had carefully put them in chronological order and those that were very neatly stacked (probably by Tabitha because Kairi didn't have that kind of preciseness) paid no heed to any sort of chronology. Some of the drawings had been messily strewn across her desk and some had fluttered to the floor. She wondered if Tabitha had knocked them when Max and his friends brought her back. In any case, she began the simple but laborious task of picking them all back up and rearranging them.

Once she had all of her drawings in order, she pulled up some fresh paper and her pencils. The grey leads were already growing short even though she'd only used them for a week and a half. She figured if anybody asked she could still claim that she was resting and that to her art wasn't effort. She picked up a 2B and poised her hand over the first sheet of paper, wondering what to draw. What events of today had been eventful enough to creatively inspire her?

She stared at her hand and her mind strayed. With the point of the pencil hovering far above the paper she began to rotate it in a clockwise direction like she had with the teaspoon. The memories that had come to her in her sleep had been vivid and this time she recalled them. The old woman…

"Grandma…" Kairi muttered out aloud. That round, wrinkly face with a thousand watt smile didn't leave her memory. She could suddenly conjure it as effortlessly as if she was trying to remember what the play island looked like. She tapped the end of the pencil against her moonstone. Someone cast a spell on it; there was magic in that gem, placed there by someone who was looking out for her.

The tapping ceased. She brought the pencil back down to the paper and began to sketch, deciding to try to capture the old memories that had resurfaced first before depicting her activities.


	40. Fairy Lights on a Snowy Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora and Riku spend a night on the town.

Sora grinned to himself. The night had turned out to be splendid indeed. When King Mickey saw him and Riku fretting over Kairi's condition he suggested that they move around the castle, maybe even go outside. The castle's staff could take care of Kairi properly. For the rest of the afternoon the two boys had time to catch up with other friends at the castle, namely Donald and Goofy. They went to inspect the damage to the hangars, wondering what could have prevented Kairi from returning home over a week later than scheduled and were awestruck by the extent of the damage. Chip and Dale were up to their little chipmunk necks supervising and co-ordinating the repair work. While they were excited to see Sora and meet Riku, they couldn't spend much time chatting with the circumstances being so unfortunate. Donald happily and proudly gave them a tour of Disney Castle in its entirety. Occasionally they passed by an older resident or servant who would do a double take on Sora. Apparently, he looked somewhat familiar to them. Sora claimed he didn't know what they were talking about but Riku narrowed his eyes at his friend because when the shorter boy said it he had that sheepish yet cheeky grin that meant he knew something nobody else knew.

It was Goofy's idea to go to the ballet. Sora had just cocked his head to the side, mentioning that he'd never heard of ballet. Riku had only heard of it but never seen it. Donald and Daisy were also going, at the insistence of Daisy. Mickey and Minnie were going, partly because they wanted to enjoy it but it seemed there was also some sense of obligation when Minnie mentioned that their daughter was performing. Sora's jaw dropped when he heard that the mice had a child and wondered how and why he hadn't known. Riku was equally shocked but less dramatic. It was through this experience that they met Max, Goofy's teenage son (a fact that left Sora's jaw floored once again). Goofy dragged the boy along to show some support for Monnie and try to "teach him a bit of culture, y'know?" However, Max shared Donald's displeasure at having to sit through the hours of performances. By the way they both squirmed and grumbled childishly, they would both be somewhere else if not for someone else's overbearing hand.

After the ballet, the group gathered in the lobby. People were leaving and the clock on one wall of the old-fashioned theatre showed that it was already past nine o'clock. Daisy threw her arms around Donald's neck and shoulders, squeezing hard in what was supposed to be an affectionate hug but she was actually just choking him, going by Donald's bug-eyed expression.

"That was a wonderful ballet. Oh, Donald, I'm so glad we came," Daisy gushed. She loosened her hold on him to turn to the king and queen. "Monica and her friends are such darlings. I can't believe they're still so young and yet already such distinguished dancers."

"Monnie does love dancing with her whole heart," Minnie replied with a smile.

"I've never seen anything like it," Riku commented. "If I hadn't seen it I'd probably think that it was anatomically impossible to dance like that."

Sora swung one of his legs freely, trying to get out some of the energy that had become pent up during the performances. He'd been interested for the first hour when it all looked new and intriguing but after that he was just as bored as Max and Donald. He put on a smile to hide it. "Yeah, it was cool," he said. "It made me feel like… moving around."

"You were bored," Riku paraphrased, giving Sora a deadpan look.

"I wasn't bored!" Sora pouted, stiffening a little.

"Don't feel like you're the odd one out, we're starting a club," Max quipped, nodding his head in Donald's direction briefly.

Goofy gave his son a disapproving look. "Now Max, that wasn't very nice. Monnie and all her classmates were practising for weeks-"

"Dad!" Max hissed between clenched teeth, hunching over and looking around to see if anyone was listening. "I'm not a little kid! I don't need a lecture. I just don't think ballet is all that cool, okay?"

"If you feel like leaving, don't be obliged to stay because of us," Mickey said understandingly. "We'll wait for Monnie. If you need to get some exercise, why don't you take a walk?"

The King's gaze flickered non-discretely to Sora's leg, which was still fidgeting. Sora tucked the twitchy leg behind his other and chewed on his bottom lip sheepishly. Riku considered the option and turned to the front doors of the theatre. There were the three original, old double doors looking red and wooden but most of the wall had been replaced by glass right up to the high ceiling. There was a clear view down the giant portico to the street outside, where Riku could see that it had started to snow lightly.

"Actually, a walk sounds nice," Riku replied. "I've hardly seen Disney Castle but I've seen less of the town. How about it, Sora? Wanna go exploring?"

Sora visibly brightened at that proposition. "Do I ever!"

"That sounds excellent," Daisy agreed, shaking Donald by the shoulders. "Donald, we should go for a walk too. Wouldn't that be romantic? A leisurely night-time stroll through the snowy streets all lit up with lights and lined with flowers on Valentine's Day Eve." She let go of Donald and clasped her hands over her chest, sighing whimsically. Donald's eyes were still swirling around in his head.

"Oh, but it's already a bit late, Daisy," Minnie reminded her. "You should be well rested for the performance tomorrow. Maybe you and Donald can walk tomorrow night."

Daisy sighed again, this time in resignation. "I know, you're right, Minnie. But tomorrow night is the ball."

"We'll see you guys back at the castle then," Sora said, tugging Riku's arm towards the door. "Come on, Riku!"

Riku gulped as Sora pulled him close, almost hugging his arm. "Oh, y-yeah. See you 'round." He waved back to the others, a motion mimicked by Sora, before the two of them rushed out into the street.

* * *

The snowfall was so light that most flakes didn't even make it to the ground. The sporadic snow was caught on the breeze and fluttered about wistfully around the vehicles and pedestrians, adding a delightful touch to the romantic atmosphere. Pink fairy lights that were strung up over doors and windows and winding up poles and around bars glowed subtly. With a wry smile, Riku thought it looked as though the interior decorator of Kairi's room had been commissioned to decorate the entire town. All of the doors had big red bows or heart-shaped wreaths (or both) and streetlamps had been decorated with hearts, cupids and fake roses. Riku put his hands in the pockets of the long, black leather coat he'd borrowed and turned to where Sora was walking beside him. Sora had a shorter, double-breasted coat made with a predominately red tartan material. From where Riku stood the spikes of Sora's hair took on an ethereal glow as they passed shop windows and the light outlined his face and shoulders like a halo. Riku's heart fluttered and he looked away, amusing himself with his misty breath.

"Brrr!" Sora suddenly muttered, making Riku look. The shorter boy hugged himself. "I didn't know winter was this cold."

"Why? You've experienced winter before," Riku pointed out.

"Yeah, but Donald could cast these awesome charms and spells that would just ward the cold away and stuff," Sora explained with a shrug.

Riku chuckled. "Lucky you. I wish I'd had a friend like that."

Sora turned to Riku with a frown on his otherwise soft features. "Don't dwell on it," he warned.

"I wasn't going to," Riku answered, glancing at Sora out of the corner of his eye. He smirked as a slightly cold breeze blew through his heart. "There are much better things to dwell on around here."

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Huh? What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Riku replied quickly, looking straight ahead. The cold funnelled up from his heart into his head, giving him a migraine. He rubbed his forehead. There was something strange going on in Disney Town. Kairi's adventures and the King's accounts only told half of the story. Riku wondered if Sora could feel this darkness too. Who else could feel it?

Sora pushed his bottom lip out and glared at Riku. "Well, okay…" he murmured, sounding like he didn't believe his best friend. "But maybe that's true. I mean, just look at all of these decorations! It's like a second Christmas!"

And Riku supposed it was. From what he understood, people gave gifts to each other just like Christmas but the gifts were restricted to lovers.

"Are you planning on giving a gift to someone?" he asked.

Sora looked half contemplative and half distracted when his eyes caught a lavish display of cakes and chocolates surrounded by flowers and glass beads in the window of a patisserie. "Hmm… I actually haven't thought about it. Do you think Kairi would want something?"

Riku forced himself to smile even though a cold wind twisted around his heart. "I'm sure she'd like anything you gave her; she'll appreciate the fact that you even thought of her. I'm pretty sure she likes flowers."

"Huh…" Sora muttered, scratching his upper lip. He brightened like a light bulb that had just been turned on and looked directly at Riku. "In Halloween Town, Sally had these flowers called forget-me-nots. Apparently they're meant to represent memories and love or something. They looked kinda bleak, though."

Sora looked down at the ground. Riku shrugged. "It's Halloween Town. Everything looks bleak there."

"I guess you're right. So… do you wanna go somewhere? Maybe you could even help me pick a gift on the way."

Riku heart jumped right into his throat and his steps faltered for a moment before he got a hold of himself. Sora stared at his friend curiously.

"Are you okay there? You're not going to collapse too, are you?"

"I'm fine," Riku replied, trying to keep his voice even and hoping Sora hadn't heard the small crack at the beginning.

"You didn't have to come if you're feeling cold or sick. We can go back to the castle-"

"I'm not feeling either of those things," Riku snapped. He did feel cold and sick though, not in a physical way. His thoughts suddenly turned dark and jealous. He turned away from Sora, who was staring at him looking flabbergasted. He started looking for a way out of this conversation when he caught sight of arching park gates and the rainbow of lights shining out of the trees and bushes. "Hey, check that out. Should we go in there?"

Sora looked at the park and nodded wordlessly. Riku cursed in his head. They both walked over to the park in silence. The light decorations were amazing. There was a range of colours, strings of lights arranged into shapes and even dynamic lights that lit up one at a time and blinked before going out and starting again. There were large, flower-shaped lights tied onto some of the evergreen bushes, blinking in turn and some more discrete fairy lights that blinked every now and again and then disappeared for a while as if a fairy had just flitted by. For all anyone knew, maybe one had. Despite the beauty around them, the walk was tense and Riku found himself balling his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders.

"You know," Sora piped up once they'd gotten deep into the park and come to a snow-covered hill with a heart-shaped light display ringed with fake roses and illuminated cupids, "it seems like there's been something bothering you ever since we got here."

"Do you feel any darkness?" Riku asked.

"No… should I?"

"Then there's probably nothing wrong," Riku said with a shrug. "Maybe you're imagining things. If anything, it's the weather."

Sora raised an eyebrow at the mixed answers. Surely Riku wasn't taking him seriously with answers like that. Sora was sure that something was wrong with his friend but he wasn't going to talk about it.

Laughter was carried on the wind over to them from near the top of the hill. The two boys looked up and saw a couple. The girl was lying on the snow, flailing her arms and legs about until she decided she'd had enough and lifted her arms for her boyfriend to pull her up. He pulled fast and hard, making her fall right into him and that brought about another bout of laughter from them. They took a moment to admire the girl's imprint and then smooched before going on their way. Sora let out a delighted gasp.

"They made a snow angel!" he said, taking a few steps forwards and then grinning when he found an unexpected drop where his foot fell into the snow up to his ankle. He jogged towards the hill. "The snow's deep enough here, we could do it too."

"What's a snow angel?"

Sora stopped and whirled around when he reached the base, gaping at Riku. "You haven't heard of a snow angel before? I saw kids doing them in Christmas Town a few times. Trust me, it's fun." Sora beckoned Riku over. "I'll show you how to do it."

Riku chewed his bottom lip as he made his way over to Sora. It seemed to be a couple's thing from what he saw on the hill but Sora was grinning when he got there and that assured him that they were only doing this as friends. A part of him was deeply disappointed.

Sora allowed himself to fall back onto the snow and then began to flap his arms up and down like he was about to take flight. He wiggled his butt and head around a few times to push the snow out at the sides and make a deeper imprint. Riku wanted to step in at the end and help him up like the girl's boyfriend had but Sora got up by himself, wiping snow off his back and turning around admire his handiwork. Riku had to admit that it did look kind of like an angel.

"You try it now. It's really easy."

Riku nodded. He stepped around Sora's work and sat himself down in a spot that was far enough away from Sora's angel that he wouldn't ruin it. He lay back on the ground, feeling a little stupid. What if someone came by and saw him doing it? Snow crunched beside him all of a sudden as Sora plonked down next to him and fell back to start making another snow angel. They looked at each other, Riku with a quizzical expression and Sora with a huge grin.

"Let's make it more fun," Sora suggested. "We'll both make a snow angel and then get up at the same time and see whose is the best."

Riku smirked. Of course Sora wouldn't resist a competition.

"Ready? Set… go!"

Sora started flapping his limbs madly, laughing all the way. Riku chuckled and followed suit. Sora's left hand occasionally knocked painfully against Riku's right and knuckles ground against another set but they paid no mind. Sora's uncontrolled laughter was infectious and soon enough Riku was just as loud and joyous. It was fun and having Sora beside him made it all the better. He felt warmer, so much so that his cheeks started to turn pink and the tiny snowflakes melted when they touched his skin. His heart was singing and he felt like he was actually going to fly away in that moment until Sora yelled out:

"Stop!"

Riku took a deep, much-needed breath and grinned. His heart pounded and his skin felt overwarm under his coat. He turned to look at Sora, who was looking straight up at the sky with a flushed face. His chest rose and fell with short breaths that blew little puffs of steam into the night air. The spiky-haired boy got up and extended a hand to Riku. He accepted it and let Sora pull him up. The two of them stood beside each other and admired their work. There were two angels lying in the snow. Their wings touched where Sora and Riku's hands had collided and Riku imagined that they were holding hands, maybe even with their fingers intertwined.

"You didn't wiggle enough," Sora said, pointing at Riku's angel. "The middle is too narrow."

"She just likes the kind of dress that's tight around the middle," Riku replied with a shrug, "to show off her stuff."

"What stuff? She's as straight as a plank!" Sora laughed. "The best angels look like they have a long, flow-y dress. See?"

Sora pointed to his own angel. There was nothing realistic about a teenage boy's back print in the snow but the soft lighting and the blue sheen of the icier layers beneath the top layer of snow made it look like it was about to spring to life. Riku could imagine a pixie-like woman with a blue, glittery complexion lifting out of the print and gliding away on the frosty wind.

"Okay, fine, you win," Riku said with a roll of his eyes. "Yours is better."

"Alright!" Sora yelled, pumping his fists in the air. "So what's the tally again?"

"I lost count."

"Yeah, me too. I guess we should make a new one again. That makes things securely in my favour with a one-nil lead."

Riku shook his head and chuckled. "Not for long…"

"Nuh-uh! I'm going to stay on top this time."

Riku blushed vibrantly and turned away, punching himself in the forehead. That dark presence hanging over the town was making itself known again and Riku wondered if that had anything to do with what he'd just thought. He hadn't felt like himself ever since he got to Disney Town.

"Riku, are you okay?" Sora asked, putting a hand on Riku's shoulder. Riku shrugged him off more violently than necessary and took a couple of steps away.

"I'm fine," he snapped. His breath hitched when he caught Sora's wide-eyed stare of disbelief. "Sorry," he said with a more controlled tone, "I'm just getting some bad headaches. Maybe we should go back."

Sora nodded slowly. "Okay."

"We should do this again sometime, though."

They turned to begin their walk back to the castle. As they left, Sora cast another proud glance at their snow creations and smiled. "Yeah, we should do it again with Kairi there too."

Every muscle in Riku's body felt like they had suddenly turned into concrete and his skeleton strained to keep him upright. A cold hand wrapped around his heart and squeezed tightly. He clenched his teeth and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, balling them up to stop them from noticeably shaking. His heart tore open and the wind blew through.


	41. The Observatory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora takes Kairi out on some sort of a date. Meanwhile, Riku is faltering...

The clouds had mostly cleared away, leaving only fluffy white patches in the blue sky. It was still quite cold, enough so that the ice and snow that had been laid over the past week wasn't able to thaw. It was a perfect day for an outdoor ice skating show.

Kairi woke up feeling unusually sparky. The bright light sneaking under her curtains told her that it was already mid-morning. She checked her clock and then gasped and threw herself out of bed. It wouldn't be long before the royal skating show began. She was still pulling on her boots as she stumbled out into the hall with her coat and scarf under her arm when she ran into someone standing just outside her door and knocked the both of them over. She pushed herself up and off the body sprawled beneath her, crawling backwards to put an appropriate distance between them.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.

Sora groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head where it had smacked against the floor. Kairi blushed. He'd done some more clothes-digging himself and had found some red boots with yellow laces, a green woollen vest with big brass buttons, a long black shirt and a pair of red shorts that, judging by the cut, were probably meant to be trousers on one of the smaller and stouter animals that lived around the castle. He also wore a pair of black tights and white fingerless gloves and he'd dropped his short tartan coat beside him. She instantly shuffled towards him and grabbed his shoulders. "Sora! I'm sorry I ran into you like that! You're okay, right?"

"Don't worry, I don't think I even have a concussion," Sora replied, waving it off but making no move to force Kairi to let go of him. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Kairi sat back, still watching Sora cautiously. "I wanted to go and see Daisy and Minnie's ice performance today but it looks like I'm going to be late."

"Oh! You really did want to see that?" Sora asked.

"Yeah. Did you hear about it too? I've seen Minnie and Daisy practising for it and they're amazing ice skaters."

"Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me to see it," Sora said, looking down at the floor and clasping his hands in his lap. "The King gave me some munny last night but I didn't end up spending a lot of it. I have just enough munny to pay for admission for the two of us. What do you say?"

He blushed. Kairi's blush brightened and she started to twist a lock of red hair around her finger. "Uh, I'd love to. Um, Riku isn't coming, is he?"

Sora shook his head but smiled. If it wasn't for Riku he wouldn't have even remembered that the skating show was on. It was his suggestion that it would be the perfect place to take Kairi. "Actually, he said he wanted to go for another walk around the town and he isn't back yet. It's just the two of us. Is that alright?"

Kairi gulped, feeling her heart palpitate against her ribs. "Y-you mean… this is a date?"

"Well, yes…?" Sora replied, unsure of himself. He wasn't cold inside the castle and his whole body was covered in warm clothing but he was shaking all over.

Finally Kairi grinned. "Sora, I'd love to go with you. We'd better hurry, though. It'll take a while to get to the other side of town and we'll probably miss the beginning." She and Sora got up at the same time.

"Actually, I have a way to get us there fast," Sora said, turning to jog down the hall and beckoning her. "Follow me."

* * *

Sora led Kairi up to the tallest tower of Disney Castle. The top floor was a big, round room used as an amateur's observatory and study. The walls were covered in notes and star charts and on little tables around the room were handmade dioramas of planetary systems, galaxies and constellations. There was a very expensive and complicated telescope placed near one of the three arched windows. That window faced away from the town where the glare of the lights wouldn't impede the night view so much. The two windows opposite, however, both had stunning views of the town. Sora opened those two tall windows and surveyed the area. Kairi leaned over the sill beside him and gazed down at the town in wonder. When she was in the streets Disney Town felt so big but looking at it from so high and being able to see where the town ended and the forests, meadows and farms began made it seem so small.

"Hey, Sora, how did you know about this place?" Kairi asked, even though her attention was still focussed mainly on the marvellous view of the town.

"Mark Mocking and The King pointed it out to me," Sora admitted, putting a hand over his eyes while he judged distance. "Only from downstairs, though. They showed me the door that leads here but this is the first time I've been up."

Kairi turned away from the town to look at the study. It wasn't particularly neat and the handwriting on the notes was so atrocious it was nearly illegible to her but there was so much detail in those diagrams and flow charts that her mind began to spin just looking at them. The amount of work that went into this observatory was much more than what an average hobbyist would bother with. Kairi searched her memory for anyone she knew in the castle who had such a passion for astronomy but came up blank.

"I wonder who studies here?" she thought aloud.

"The King said he comes up here sometimes to stargaze but only when it's warmer and the weather's clearer," Sora replied.

Kairi cast a sceptical eye at the notes. If that was true then that meant the room had probably been disused for a few months but the papers and charts looked like they'd been put up recently – they had that pure white look of fresh paper and the lines were crisp and bold.

"I think I can make it."

Kairi looked away from the room to stare at Sora. "Huh? Make what?"

"The distance. Come here and hold on tight, okay?"

Sora stood on the window sill and gave Kairi a hand that she didn't need to help her up. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her flush against him, even though it made his heart thump. It wouldn't do any good to lose concentration halfway there. Kairi blushed as well and avoided making eye contact with him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, wondering what exactly he was going to do.

"Alright, are you ready?" Sora asked. Kairi took one last glance back at the room. He eyes widened when she finally deciphered one image from the squiggly array of notes and diagrams. "Off we go!"

Her heart stopped as Sora unexpectedly jumped off the window sill. Kairi shrieked and turned her head to look down at what she expected would be the ground rushing up to meet her but it was in fact sliding by beneath them. Her jaw dropped as she looked between Sora and the coloured rooves below her and then remembered something critical: Sora could glide. It was an ability she'd only seen him do briefly once in the World That Never Was and then never again since he hadn't really needed it. She looked down at the town again. She knew that Sora couldn't fly and that this was really just a spell to slow his descent to earth but it felt like he was flying. The wind so high up was colder but less blustery than it was down among the buildings. Sora stared ahead, keeping an eye on his destination. His spikes barely bent in the wind but just waved like seaweed.

The experience was amazing and Kairi drank in as much as possible. As they were starting to meet the roofline of the buildings, she looked over to get one last glimpse at a wild meadow to the east. A few stubborn clouds hanging over it filtered some sun rays onto the snow (Kairi hoped they wouldn't dare travel over the performance before it was over). The beautiful view disappeared under the ridges of buildings and already the Valentine's Day decorations were taking precedence. The image of a heart-shaped wreath made of fake flowers tied to a chimney reminded her of the diagram she saw in the observatory: a picture of a person with a heart in the middle of their chest.

* * *

Riku wound himself into the guts of the town through narrow laneways, backstreets and alleys. The light was beginning to hurt as his head pounded relentlessly. He hadn't eaten properly at breakfast or had anything to drink since early in the morning but all he could think about was the gaping hole in his spirit that was leaking darkness and trying to force it closed. He slumped against a brick wall, woozy and nauseous. He didn't want this to happen again. He wanted to be stronger than it but this darkness was different to that of Ansem Seeker of Darkness and the Heartless. It was baser but less complex and seemed to come from inside and outside of him at the same time. He slid down to the ground. It was so cold. Why was it so cold? It was sunnier than yesterday and less windy. He licked his dry lips as his vision blurred and dimmed. He couldn't keep sitting up straight. The darkness kept pushing through the crack and crushed him from the inside out.

There was no way he would have noticed in his state the pale woman sitting on a roof right above him with one elegant, pointed toe propped on the gutter and her ankles crossed. She clasped her fingers behind her thighs and smirked.


	42. The Ice Ballet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi and Sora meet up with Monnie and Mir, resulting in a stroke of good luck and great seats at the skating show. The royal ladies sure are wonderful at what they do.

Sora touched down just across the road from the rink where the show was going to take place and let Kairi down onto her own feet. As soon as they let go of each other Kairi grabbed Sora's wrist and dragged him across the street. The queue for tickets was still snaking out of the front doors of the pavilion and winding throughout the vaulted colonnade. Kairi and Sora joined the back of the line. Kairi raised herself as high as she could go, bouncing on the balls of her feet to see over the heads of everyone in front of her. The clock above the front doors showed that there was less than ten minutes before the performance began and the line was moving slowly. At least, to Kairi it was.

"Ooh, the line's so long. What if we miss out on a seat?" Kairi moaned.

"Calm down," Sora said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure there are enough seats."

"But I bet they've been letting people in for an hour! The stands could already be packed."

Sora made a pout with his lips but his eyes rolled to one side sheepishly. "Well, if that happens, I'm sure I could get us up on the roof or on a fence or something."

Kairi shot him a stern glare. "No more illegal stuff."

"Technically, taking those Gummi blocks was not illegal. And look, the line's already moving."

Sora put both hands on Kairi's shoulders and pushed her forwards to keep up with the rate at which people were shuffling towards the doors. Kairi leaned against Sora's hands and threw her head back with a groan:

"It'll probably take longer than ten minutes just to get through this line and the show's going to start without us."

"Hey, you never know. Maybe if you get lucky a few people will change their minds and step out of line to go somewhere else," Sora suggested with a grin.

"Oh, come on. Even you know the chances of that happening are slim to none."

"I said 'if you get lucky', I'm just trying to be optimistic." Sora kept grinning, even when Kairi gave him that look that said 'I don't believe what you're saying but I'm glad you're trying to help'.

Material swishing against the side of her leg was the only subtle hint that Kairi got indicating that someone was tugging on her skirt. She looked down and smiled at the little black mouse who returned it with a cheeky grin.

"Darn. I was hoping it would take you longer to notice."

"Monnie!" Kairi exclaimed, crouching down to get closer to Monica's level. "Are you here for the show too?"

"Of course I am," Monnie replied, flicking the hem of Kairi's coat and dress up as she let them go. "Mom came to see me. It's only fair that I go to see her."

Mir, watchfully tailing the little princess as always, chuckled. "Oh, Monica has been waiting for this all year. It's her favourite part of the Valentine's Day Festival, even more than the ball."

Monnie blushed. "Not _all_ year! Maybe a month at most…"

"Don't be embarrassed about it, I'm pretty stoked too," Kairi said. "I just hate having to wait in this line. You guys got here a bit late."

"As if I'm going to wait in a line," Monnie scoffed with a roll of her eyes. She dug into her coat pocket and pulled out a golden token with a stylised picture of a mouse wearing a crown. "This is a VIP token. Not only that, it's a royalty only VIP token. I've got a special seat in the royalty box because I'm the princess."

"Well, I hope you enjoy the show then. Sora and I are just going to be waiting out here for a while."

"Monica, why don't you offer them a token?" Mir said, giving Monnie a little push to urge her.

"I was about to! Geez!" Monica retorted indignantly. She dipped her left hand into her left pocket and pulled out two more tokens, identical to the one in her right. "I tried inviting two of my friends from ballet but they're doing something else right now. So I can hand these on to anyone I please."

Kairi's shiny-eyed, puppy-dog expression made Monnie smirk. It was practically begging and was exactly the kind of reaction she was looking for. It was both amusing an adorable; Monnie could almost see the tail wagging behind her redheaded friend.

"Sure, of course you can," Monnie said, holding her palm out with the tokens sitting on top.

Kairi's hands snapped out so fast Monica had to blink to see if that was a trick of the eyes. Kairi held both tokens tightly in her fist and jumped up with a loud whoop. "Sora! We got VIP tokens!"

* * *

The royal box had all of the perks one would expect: there was more space, the chairs were more comfortable and it was positioned perfectly – not too close or too far away. The four new arrivals filed into the box to find that King Mickey was already there. That really shouldn't have surprised Kairi as much as it did.

"Wow, King Mickey is taking time out of his busy schedule to watch some kind of dance show?" Sora quipped, ensuring that Kairi didn't have to ask. "I thought you'd be tied up in some politics stuff. Isn't there some rogue criminal you've been chasing for a week?"

"It's ice skating! Not dancing," Kairi corrected him.

"It's still very much like dancing. And I wouldn't miss this for the world," Mickey replied, shrugging it off. "Seeing Minnie perform is one joy that I don't often get to see."

Kairi sighed and covered her lips to hide her smile. The comment reminded her that Mickey and Minnie weren't king and queen for government's sake, they really were in love. She glanced at Sora. Apparently he had the same idea and their gazes locked. For that one moment, the world suddenly slipped away; every sound and every sight that wasn't either of them disappeared into a flurry of imagined mist and glitter. They both turned away with vibrant blushes. Monnie managed to catch them both in the act and giggled but didn't say anything.

Despite Kairi being so worried about arriving late, they still had a good five minutes to wait before the show began. She maintained that it was a genuine concern because looking around she could see that it was now standing room only. Some people couldn't even fit in the grand stand and stood in the snow or sat on the fences surrounding the boundary of the venue. Kairi felt her skin rippling with goose bumps in anticipation. It seemed like too long when the music finally started and a calming voice over the speakers reminded everyone to take their seats for the show was about to start. Not that anyone needed to be reminded; everybody was already in their seats and wouldn't give them up right now for the world.

The music that started was orchestral, like the type that played during the ballet performances but there was no live orchestra this time. Kairi forgot to watch the stage for a moment and stared at the first speakers she laid her eyes on with bewilderment. For some reason this particular piece sounded familiar to her but she'd never heard it before on her islands. Had she perhaps heard it while she was comatose about a year ago and her brain had subconsciously tucked it into her memory banks? Somehow that didn't seem likely.

She didn't have time to try to figure it out before her attention was drawn back to the stage by the audience suddenly giving a sigh. The performance was going to start with a solo performance by Daisy. Kairi was left breathless by the elegant costume. It was white with pink and purple ruffles under the skirt and it glittered as if it had diamonds sewn into it. Daisy gave a flamboyant bow to each section of the audience in turn before she took off on her skates. She was swift and started off big by circling the entire rink while executing triple jumps and double jumps. The duchess was a powerful skater and seemed to slice the ice open as she crossed the rink in strong lines with high split jumps. When she spun she did it fast and tight. Kairi fixated completely on Daisy, awed by the power and skill of the performance. As her song finished, she travelled across the ice, changing her spin with each rotation to show off even more. The cheers and applause of her audience followed her. Kairi bounced in her seat, clapping and giggling.

The music faded and segued into a different piece that was so soft it was nearly silent. For a while nothing happened. The crowd was silent, waiting for the next dancer to make an appearance. Eventually she did and she glided in gracefully, waving to the people in the crowd who were both her audience and her subjects. She did a twizzle halfway across the ice before making her way to the other end of the rink. There she slowed to a stop and slid one leg behind the other, waiting for her music to cue her. Her outfit was an inversed version of Daisy's: a pink leotard with purple trimming around the collar and the ends of her sleeves. Under the skirt were white ruffles that were just as shimmery as Daisy's leotard.

A loud harmony of notes signalled the beginning and Minnie switched her weight to her back leg and took off, doing a figure-eight pattern over the rink. She started slowly, lifting and lowering her feet like a fan opening and closing. When she came to the cross in her figure-eight she put her working leg down and lifted the other over her head. At the lower end of the rink she dropped her leg and did a turn, not putting that foot down before she raised it again in front of her. Eventually she had to put both blades back on the ice and pick up more speed. She looped around the top of the rink, doing a spin with crossed ankles near the edge before coming back, gaining more speed so that she could glide around the bottom of the rink in an arabesque. Every move she made was done with the grace of a swan floating on top of a calm lake. If she was as powerful as Daisy she didn't show it, preferring to swirl around the rink with spirals and spins instead of leaps and sharp turns.

Daisy eventually returned and the two of them passed each other back to back with their blades spread eagled on the ice before they began to mirror each other. They were in perfect synchronisation in their jumps and spins, their figure-eights were timed so meticulously that they never collided even though they crossed so close to each other. They spiralled in with one leg in a high attitude and joined hands in the middle. The hand that wasn't grasping the other's tightly was raised to the sky as they did a pair spin so tight that Kairi thought a whirlwind might just start with those two at the eye.

Sora leaned on the side of the box and folded his arms. The ice skating kept his interest only slightly more than the ballet did and that was mainly because he couldn't help wondering how Minnie and Daisy were able to do it all without slipping and on such thin pieces of metal. He turned to look at Kairi. She had her hands clasped together over her heart, enraptured by the pair of skaters as they moved in unison before doing another pair spin and launching each other away, leaning forwards and lifting their legs so high that they were doing vertical splits as they sped down the sides of the rink. He wondered if he'd ever seen her look so excited about anything before. She'd been mildly enthusiastic about the raft trip at best. And why was she so thrilled about ice skating when she didn't have the slightest interest in doing regular skating like Selphie did? The only time Sora got to see Kairi at her happiest without her friends around was when she was wading at the sea's edge; knee deep in salt water and sea foam while waves lapped at the hem of her skirt. Every now and then she'd lean down to pick up something as it got washed in.

Pulling back into the present, he turned to stare absently at the performance with a heavy heart. He wanted her back on the islands, next to him for the rest of their lives. There was no cliff too high or ocean too wide that he wouldn't overcome for her and yet it seemed that somewhere between her disappearance and her two best friends finding her a crack had formed between them. Right now it felt like a fissure to Sora, who wondered if the reason Kairi wanted to stay in Disney Town was not because she didn't want to leave for the time being but because she didn't want to go back.

That dark cloud from before drifted over the performance lazily, casting a dark shadow on the whole venue. Kairi spared a second to glare at it menacingly as if that would somehow make it go away quickly. She intended to send her attention straight back to the performance but an even darker shadow in the cloud made her stop. She reached out and grabbed Sora's arm. He gave her a questioning look and she simply pointed up at the cloud hanging above them. Monica also noticed Kairi's pointing and lifted her head to see what was happening in the sky.

Then suddenly a great, dark creature dropped out of the clouds and onto the ice, snatching up the royal performers in its long, metal fingers.


	43. Corridor Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, at the castle...

It was finally all gone. All of the beautiful silver writing had chipped away leaving nothing but black on the hard leather cover of the Lexicon. Zexion sat in his battered armchair with his book in his lap, staring inquisitively at the front cover. He had wondered what was happening to his weapon. It had always been perfect no matter what he did to it. The leather never wore down, the spine never broke, the print and lettering never, ever faded but then the chipping began without any warning. The first thing Zexion noticed was a crack in the emblem adorning the cover and then more cracks were added. He didn't know what it meant and had found no clue about where to start researching the phenomenon. His brain filled up with questions that he couldn't answer and couldn't find answers to. Now it was all gone.

Nothing happened. At one stage Zexion theorised that by casually using the book as his main data store he'd been inadvertently packing his soul into it but he disproved the notion quickly with some basic calculations and it didn't adequately explain what was happening. He hadn't lost any of his precious information, he hadn't lost his soul and he hadn't gained a heart out of this because he still couldn't feel. For a while he pondered just how he _should_ feel about this but trying to objectively deduce how one was supposed to feel in such a unique situation was more of a headache that it was actually worth. The only thing that he could say with certainty was that his book cover was blank.

All in all, this was good. Any danger of losing the prized knowledge in his Lexicon was gone. He opened the book and browsed through the pages, calling up his notes for review. They were incomplete as far as he was concerned but he could put together a vague picture of the Unversed, the lens and what was about to transpire. As much as he would have liked to think that he'd learned from the last time, this was still an experiment. However, despite the uncertainty, he was sure of the results.

"Well… perhaps I should return these documents," he said to himself. He dismissed his Lexicon and got up, crossing the room to his makeshift shelf. There was still a sizeable pile of books left that he'd procrastinated on returning simply because of the danger of doing so. In any case, it was time to get started. He transported himself and the books to their destination.

He reappeared in the castle archives, intending to leave the pile on the floor and return to his tiny room. He sniffed and realised immediately that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Stop! Intruder!"

He whipped around just in time to see and dodge a javelin being hurled at him. He ran, not waiting around while the guard pressed a button on a communication device strapped to his armour to report the situation.

Zexion skidded into the main area of the archives – a study area with couches and desks for the perusal of documents and journals. There were another three guards stationed here, two with spears and one with a rifle. They all jumped to attention and took aim at him. The guards with the spears charged. All of a sudden there were six of Zexion. They all sprinted in a different direction.

"Keep the exit guarded!" one of the spear-wielding guards commanded.

The gun wielder took up the post, not thinking twice about showering the Zexion in front of him with bullets. The bullets slid right through and Zexion phased through the guard. A dark portal opened up at the entry of one of the aisles and Zexion ran straight into it. All of his clones disappeared immediately. The javelin wielder had retrieved his weapon and appeared just in time to have another go at throwing it. It flew through the portal split seconds before it closed.

The guards eased up, knowing the intruder was gone and his presence reported. The spear-weilder who'd given the order before – the three stars on the shoulders indicated that he was of a higher rank – gathered the guards in the middle of the study area. Other guards in the archives had come running at the sound of a scuffle. The ranked soldier ordered them back to their posts with the exception of the unarmed javelin wielder.

"He can command the powers of darkness," the other spear-wielder pointed out redundantly.

"Then report it promptly," the ranked soldier snapped. "Let others know that he has escaped but even with his portals he won't get far."

He pointed at the floor where a trail of little drops of blood led all the way to the aisle where the dark portal had been opened.

* * *

Zexion tumbled out of his portal in the middle of a large hallway. The javelin that had followed him zoomed over his head. He hadn't gone far, partly for the need to get rid of the weapon on his tail and because he was wounded. There was a _thunk_ when the javelin hit something in front of him and two cries of alarm. He looked up. Standing before him in front of two large double doors were Donald Duck and Goofy. The javelin had speared right through Goofy's hat and pinned it to the door. Donald squawked angrily and pointed his wand at Zexion.

"It's you again! Blizzard!"

Zexion cast Reflect, deflecting the power of the attack right back at Donald. He used a Magnet spell pull the bullet from his body and guzzled a potion. The tingle of warm magic soothed the pain immediately while it healed, enabling him to turn and run. Donald growled and started recklessly shooting Blizzard spells in Zexion's general direction while Goofy was preoccupied with trying to unpin his hat. The Nobody cast an invisibility spell on himself as he reached the end of the hall. It was a T-intersection but both paths looked virtually identical.

"Oh, no you don't!" Donald yelled, casting a Magnet spell. Zexion was drawn back towards it. He dug his feet into the carpet to resist the pull until Donald cast Thundaga over the entire area. One bolt hit Zexion, another hit the magic magnet and destroyed it. The cloaking spell suffered from the jolt and Zexion fizzled back into the realm of the visible. He wobbled on his feet and tumbled head over heels, disoriented from the shock and the sudden cessation of the magnetic field. "Get him, Goofy!"

Zexion lifted his head up and immediately ducked as Goofy's shield spun through the air. He tried scrambling to his feet but another _thunk_ and the sharp pull of his coat stopped him. The javelin had been thrown and pinned his coat to the floor. Zexion flipped his Lexicon open and began pulling at the javelin immediately. A _clang_ vibrated through the floor and walls. Zexion turned to look over his shoulder. The shield had bounced off the opposite wall and was coming back. Zexion hunched forward and the shield sailed over his head just a hair's breadth from hitting him. Instead it hit the javelin and dislodged it, thus freeing Zexion, and then the shield's trajectory was diverted. It hit the wall and rocketed straight back to the Nobody. He rolled to avoid it. The shield hit the corner between the wall and the floor and bounced back at a higher angle that would certainly miss if not for Donald casting a Firaga spell that reflected off the spinning shield and diverted it to the ceiling while the spell came to the ground. Zexion rolled the other way, snatching up his Lexicon and holding it up to the spell. The pages swallowed the giant fireball without getting so much as singed. He turned the page and picked up the javelin, jumping to his feet and batting the shield back to Donald and Goofy on its way down. Then he shoved the javelin into his book head first, picked it up and ran towards the intersection again.

He had to get around the corner; out of the direct line of fire of the magician and then he could use the corridors of darkness with absolute safety. From then on, he could just smell his way out.

"Magnega!"

Donald created another magnet, this time more powerful. As soon as he felt the field dragging him in Zexion turned around and pulled the pages of his book open, letting loose the Firaga spell he'd captured. It collided with the magnet. The explosion of two powerful spells sent a shockwave that almost knocked him off his feet. Unexpectedly, through the flames and forks of magnetic charge, Goofy flung himself at Zexion, riding on top of his shield. The Nobody stumbled out of the way and Goofy spun past him and hit the wall. He ricocheted off it and began to spin uncontrollably.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Goofy exclaimed as he bounced around the hall like a pinball.

Zexion danced out of the way as much as he could. Goofy still managed to get in an accidental hit on Zexion's side and then a full-frontal slam that knocked him to the floor again. Donald tried to cast Fira, aiming for Zexion but at the most inopportune moment Goofy crossed the spell's path. Somehow, he managed to catch alight. Undeterred by the fact that the Captain of the Guard was now spinning uncontrollably around the hall while on fire, Donald began to randomly toss any offensive spell he had in his arsenal. Zexion created more copies of himself, knowing that would distract (and frustrate) Donald. Goofy, however, was ploughing through them and destroying the illusions.

He didn't like it but Zexion decided to take his chances with a dark portal. He opened one in the middle of the chaos and dived through. An Aerora spell hit the bottom of Goofy's shield and launched him into the air, giving him the boost he needed to follow Zexion into the portal before it closed.

The illusions all disappeared, leaving a wrecked hall covered in scorches and spikes of ice and stone. Donald growled and balled his hands into shaking fists. He stamped on the ruined carpet screaming unintelligible obscenities.

The door behind him opened and a middle-aged squirrel popped out to see what all of the fuss was about. She took in the mess at a glance and screamed in horror. Donald turned to her with a glare but when he realised who it was he had the good grace to at least look guilty. The chief organiser of the Puppy Love Ball raised a hand to her forehead and fainted.


	44. Cold Finger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Royals VS the Unversed

"Minnie!" Mickey exclaimed.

"Queen Minnie! Daisy!" Sora gasped, suddenly snapping to attention. He and Mickey leaped out of their seats immediately and jumped over the crowd. The large audience gasped and screamed in horror at the sudden entrance of the monster. The Keyblade warriors summoned their weapons as they landed on the ice rink and skidded towards the monster that had just appeared.

"Mom!" Monnie screeched. She was about to race out of the royal box too but Mir held her back.

"Monica, this is dangerous. Your father can handle this situation," she told the little princess calmly.

That didn't stop Kairi jumping over the side of the box and running down to the rink. "Don't worry, Monnie," she called back, "I'll help save Daisy and your mom!"

"See? Kairi's going! Mom and Daisy need us," Monnie argued, tugging harshly on Mir's sleeve. "You should come and help with your light magic; it can do something to those creatures."

Kairi vaulted herself over the boards around the rink and gasped when one foot slipped out from under her and the other almost followed it. She didn't have her ice skates with her and the memory of the first time she'd tried to walk on ice without them made her breath catch in her throat and her arms cling to the boards for dear life. She glanced out onto the ice. Sora and Mickey were somehow keeping their balance. Sora probably had practise with getting around on slippery surfaces during his travels. Now wasn't the time to jealously admire Sora, though. She glanced around and between the stands and spied a skate rental station. Her eyes twinkled.

Sora's knees were shaking with the effort of trying keep his legs stiff yet he could still feel his feet slipping slightly on the ice. He would have to make a move soon or else he might fall, or worse still the monster before them would try to seriously hurt Minnie and Daisy.

Speaking of which, this was quite the beast. It levitated, having no legs on which to stand, and had a large triangular chest that had its ribcage on the outside. The soft, inner mass pulsed as if it was all just a great big heart. Behind the neck a spiny frill twitched and rippled. It had a large, round face with a jagged grin and two cones like a jester's hat, not unlike the Darkballs that Sora had no fond memories of. Its eyes were narrow and slanted in a malicious way, glowing red while its lips defied the menacing form of the creature that had the cold, dark blue colours of the Unversed by being soft, pink, and welcoming. Its arms were long and made of some kind of shiny, black metal and it had enormous hands with incredibly long, sharp fingers. Those fingers were curled tightly around the duchess and the queen.

Sora turned to his right and exchanged a glance with Mickey. They nodded to each other. They both crouched and used the magic and training they'd amassed from their travels to take a high-powered leap, right over the monster's head.

"Minnie, Daisy, get out of there!" Mickey shouted down at them.

Minnie was already squirming in the cold grasp until she could get her ring exposed. As soon as her hand was peeking out of a gap in the fingers, she cast Radiance. The Unversed screeched and dropped its prisoners to cover its eyes. Mickey and Sora somersaulted to get momentum and dropped straight down on the Unversed. They hit it squarely on the head with enough force to send it crashing down on the ice. It wasn't heavy enough to cause cracks. Minnie covered Daisy while the duchess skated back to the dressing rooms. The Queen checked the stands to make sure that the audience was quickly evacuating and was relieved to see most people doing as they were bidden and leaving. To her dismay, however, there were some people preferring to stay behind and watch. The Unversed batted at the Keyblade warriors on its head. Sora and Mickey dodged the wicked claws just in time and landed on the ice on either side of the creature. The Unversed ignored Mickey and turned to its right where Sora stood, reaching down to grab him with an excited look in its eye.

Sora struck the fingers that opened towards him. The claws flinched away from him when the weapon clanged against them. The agile King leaped onto its back and used the exposed spinal column to hoist himself up into a higher jump. He whacked one of the cones on the Unversed's head, bounced onto the other to do the same and ricocheted off that one into the air. He aimed an aerial slash on the crown of the monster's head. The Unversed screeched and flailed its head in irritation. The mouse king jumped off. The Unversed swung its arms around in its tantrum. Sora ducked under the hands, sliding on the soles of his shoes and glad to be moving. It was easier to keep his balance on the move.

In the meantime, Mickey plummeted to the ice. Sora kicked himself forward to go faster, risking losing a little balance. The sliding was really just like using Wisdom Form. The King somersaulted on his way down and Sora stuck out his Keyblade with one of the flat sides up. Mickey landed on blade and held onto the shaft while Sora used that momentum to swing his weapon around and launch Mickey into the air again. The Unversed got an uppercut slash on the chin and a double kick that knocked it onto its back. It bounced on the ice but righted itself easily. Its eyes were spinning as if it was dizzy and it swayed.

Sora caught The King and set the mouse down beside him. They charged in, Sora taking the Unversed's right and the King going to the left again. The Unversed reached down to grab them with both hands but its spinning eyes put its aim off. The Keyblade warriors jumped over the hands as they slammed onto the ice and closed over nothing. They scaled the cold, metal arms and leaped off when they got close to the shoulder, unleashing a barrage of merciless attacks on the creature. It growled and spun around quickly, reaching out as far as it could with its claws bared. It tossed Sora and Mickey off. Both of them managed to recover in mid-air and slide back swiftly for more attacks.

The large hands came back up to grab them. Mickey deterred the left hand with a slash from his Keyblade. He launched off the thumb to strike it on the side of the face. The Unversed cringed with pain but Mickey noticed that it wasn't focussed on his attack. On the other side, Sora swung his Keyblade like an axe to stave off the claws but the Unversed was more persistent. He landed in the Unversed's palm and it closed its fingers quickly. Sora jumped out of the way just in time and cast Blizzard on the metal fist. The fingers froze together. From there, Sora had a nice platform from which he could cast Firaga. He sent the spell straight into the Unversed's face. It only flinched slightly at that – even Mickey's blow had gotten more of a reaction than that.

The King had doubled back and perched on the Unversed's arm. For some reason the Unversed was giving all of its attention to Sora. Mickey scurried up the arm. The Unversed felt the slight tickle and shook its left arm. Mickey leaped off before he fell but took the opportunity to lift his weapon and go for the chest. The Unversed shifted slightly and Mickey missed his mark between the ribs. Instead he hit the hard, metal bones and the blow glanced off like it was nothing. He clenched his teeth.

"Sora, don't aim for the metal parts! They don't take damage!" he yelled. They had both sort of guessed that but it was always good to make sure. At least now they knew that it wasn't as hurt as they thought it was.

The boy nodded and closed in with his aerial slides. The Unversed tried to punch him with its frozen fingers but Sora let himself drop out of the air at the last minute. It hit itself in the face with such force that it broke the ice encasing its fingers. It shook its head, looking dizzy again but the hit hadn't done as much damage as Sora anticipated it would. He activated his Glide ability to descend slowly. The Unversed looked down at him but couldn't decide which of the three Soras wavering before its eyes it wanted to attack first. It settled on the middle one and swiped at it but missed spectacularly. Sora touched down on the ice and slid away slowly (he was much less skilled at going backwards). Mickey was crouched on the ice several feet away. They glanced at each other.

"What should we do now?" Sora asked.

"We should deal with it as quickly as possible," Mickey commanded, speaking to Sora as a king now. "There are still people around and we can't let the Unversed attack them."

"So this is an Unversed?" Sora muttered, looking straight up at the creature. It still had stars and planets spinning around its head. It didn't seem to be interested in anyone other than the two that were directly attacking it.

Mickey nodded. "They're made from actual people and powerful light magic will purify them. Magic doesn't appear to be particularly effective against this one, though. We'll need to beat it down first."

"It's strong against our physical attacks too," Sora pointed out. They could try to whittle down slowly but that would be equally draining on their strength.

"Perhaps I can help," said Minnie, skating up to stand just behind them. Her suggestion sounded a lot more like a statement. Sora and Mickey both turned to her. She had a smile on her face and the ring on her right hand glimmered briefly, signalling that she had it pre-primed.

"Minnie, I would prefer if you stayed out of this," Mickey said. "It went after you before an-"

"That's enough! As your wife and your queen I am staying by your side here." Minnie raised her primed ring. "Goodness knows, it looks like you'll need all of the help you can get in this fight. Might!"

The gem on the ring glowed red and orangey-red bubbles began to blow up and away from the magic medium. They floated around Sora and Mickey on Minnie's command. The bubbles didn't pop when they touched a body; instead they glowed more intensely for a brief moment and sank into the flesh, making the receiver of the spell glow with the same fiery colour. Sora marvelled at the spell and the surge of energy he felt. The Keyblade felt lighter in his hand. In fact, his whole body felt lighter.

"Hurry and defeat this foe," Minnie told them. "The Might spell is only temporary and I won't be able to cast it on you again."

Sora nodded. The Unversed was getting its bearings back and put its hands flat on the ice. It leaned down and glared at Minnie, narrowing its eyes even more. The mouth frowned.

"Love?" it queried.

Sora's eyes widened. "It talks?!"

The Unversed took a deep breath, expanding its body so far that it bulged out of the ribcage and looked like it was about to burst. Then it leaned down and expelled the breath, along with a rose-coloured, misty gas that clumped like fluffy clouds. Nobody wanted to wait and see what it did. Sora and Mickey both cast Aero on themselves before they dashed off into the mist. The wind spell gusting around them blew the mist away. Minnie also cast Aero but in a different form, sending whirlwinds into the mist to channel it upwards and clear the battlefield.

The Unversed clenched its right hand into a fist and raised it to pound on Mickey. The King rolled out of the way as the fist came crashing down, cracking the ice. He slipped and slid a little bit and only recovered from the effect of the slippery surface just in time to do another dodge roll out of the way of the second pound attack. With Sora it used a different tactic. It opened its palm and slapped down on him, keeping its fingers bent so that it couldn't squash him. Sora stabbed the Keyblade into the ice and used it as leverage to stop himself quickly. That turned out to be a bad idea and instead of stopping where he wanted to he slipped and fell on the ice. The Unversed slapped its hand over him. He grabbed the finger directly above him and lifted himself onto the knuckle. The Unversed raised its hand to be level with its face. Sora balanced on top of its finger. It glared at Sora as if he was an intriguing insect. In the meantime it ignored The King. Mickey leaped onto its arm and scaled the limb until he got to the shoulder and jumped up high to assault one of the head cones. The Unversed wailed and its head bobbed forward at the impact. Sora clung to the cold finger he was perched on while the Unversed was unbalanced. Then he plucked up the courage to leap off and attack with an aerial combo on the other cone.

The Unversed shook its head and used its spin attack again but this time with a smarter tactic: lifted its hands to its head as it began to spin and pushed outwards, sending Mickey and Sora flying. Minnie gasped and looked from one to the other but they were able to recover easily. She turned back to the Unversed and cast Thundagun. The monster shuddered as it was electrocuted but recovered quickly afterwards, shrugging off the residual jolts and sparks. It lowered its hands close to the ice and began to spin again, moving towards Minnie as it did. It was fast but Minnie could cast magic that fast as well. She used Reflega, blocking the spin attack with a pink barricade. The shield automatically countered the attack and launched a blow of equivalent power back at the Unversed, tossing it to the other side of the rink.

Sora landed neatly on the ice and charged in as quickly as he could, not wanting to miss out on getting extra hits in while Might was still in effect. The King got there first but his initial strikes were all parried by the metal fingers. The Unversed smacked him away. The King blocked the blow but couldn't avoid being flung back a little bit. The Unversed lowered its hands again and Sora anticipated that it was going to try the spinning move that it had tried on Minnie again. It did try another spin but it stayed put and only spun briefly to let loose a shockwave that radiated outwards. Sora was already quite close and could see that he was in range for the unstoppable wave and leaped over it. He cleared the shockwave but when his leading foot landed on the ice and slid his breath got caught in his throat.

He slipped. He fell onto his back and the Keyblade clattered onto the ice. The impact on the cold, hard surface almost completely winded him and knocked out the Aero spell, leaving Sora with less defences. The Unversed saw its chance and lashed out. However, The King was already upon its shoulder and stabbed his Keyblade deep into its neck. It snarled and reached up to its shoulder with the arm that was about to grab Sora. The King was swift and evaded the grab. He summoned the Keyblade back to his hands and parried the fingers as they closed in. The Unversed snatched vainly at the small king darting around next to its head. Eventually the creature just opened its hand fully and slapped itself on the shoulder. Mickey was slightly too slow that time. It grabbed a firm hold of the mouse king and flung him across the rink. Minnie cast a spell that Sora had never seen before which made bouncy blobs of a golden jelly-like substance appear. The blobs caught The King before he could crash into the stands.

Sora resummoned the Keyblade and tried to get up, slipping a bit and having to steady himself with one hand. There was a huge _boom_ all around him and he looked up to find the fingers from the creature's other hand speared into the ice around him. A Fira spell launched at it – probably from Minnie – was easily deflected back with a mere flick of the metal fingers. It leaned down to its makeshift cage so that its breath was close enough to rustle Sora's spiky hair. He expected it to stink but it was actually sweet and heady. Tempted by the aroma, he allowed himself to inhale. His air seemed to go straight to his head rather than his lungs and made him feel light-headed and drowsy. His limbs felt heavy and shuddered in protest when he tried to resist whatever kind of magic this was and get up.

The more he breathed the more the drug worked. The metal hand above him shivered a bit and then was wrenched out of the ice. Sora felt a strange sort of inclination towards the beast beginning to tickle his heart. He gagged at the thought. This creature was every kind of ugly and evil, how could he be in any way attracted to it? Its eyes widened, making it look only marginally friendlier. Its thumb and index finger reached out to pluck Sora off the ice gingerly as it whispered:

"Oh love…"

Before it could lay a finger on Sora, Kairi slid between them kicking up a spray of shaved ice and whacked the fingers away. Sora blinked. Kairi flashed him a quick grin before getting up and holding the Keyblade in front of her.

"K-Kairi…" Sora slurred, feeling his eyelids droop. "It's too dangerous… you shhh-shouldn't be here. Go… before you get hurt."

"No!" Kairi retorted. That jerked Sora to attention but only for a brief moment. "I'm not standing on the sidelines waiting to see if you come back okay this time."

The Unversed shrieked in frustration at Kairi and swiped at her. Kairi ducked under the claws and took off, skating beneath the creature and coming out on the other side. She whirled around to face the creature. It looked over its shoulder at her only for a short moment before turning back to Sora and snatching him up. It cackled as it held Sora up to its face. Its sweet smelling breath made him even more intoxicated, so much so that his eyeballs began to spin in their sockets. Kairi gasped and covered her mouth. A rock dropped into the pit of her stomach. She'd already made the first mistake in the battle: leaving Sora when he was at his most helpless. She skated back towards the creature, keeping an eye on the end of the ribcage. The soft, beating body would strain against the dark bones with every throb and the tip poked out at the bottom just enough to be a good target.

The body throbbed. Kairi was there just in time to beat it with the blunt edge of her Keyblade, making a ripple flow through the body. The flesh stretched through the ribs farther than it ought to. Spasms jerked the Unversed and it let go of Sora. Kairi slid onto the ice again, catching him before he made a nasty impact on the hard ice. The Unversed moaned and then gagged. Without warning, an unhealthy stream of pink and yellow regurgitation spewed from its jaws. It didn't smell foul, it was actually rather nice and it was making Kairi's head dizzy.

A large chunk of Blizzara hit the Unversed square in the chest and sent it careening into the boards. Kairi pushed Sora off her and hooked his left arm over her shoulders. She tried to get him to stand up but he was too out of it to even try. The best he was able to do was to look up. He looked around in puzzlement. The tinkle of a bell managed to catch the attention of his muddled brain. He turned to the middle of the rink but his vision was unfocussed at anything further than a short distance. However, Kairi could see and she smirked.

Daisy had taken up a place at Minnie's side and pointed what was probably the most unthreatening wand in existence at the Unversed. It had a pink and yellow shaft and a little silver bell on the end that was decorated with three ribbons in metallic red, silver and gold. They were tied in little bows and their tails were left long to flow around the wand whenever Daisy waved it. The two royal women exchanged glances. Daisy raised an eyebrow and Minnie nodded.

"I can take care of Mickey," Minnie said, "you look after Sora and Kairi, okay?"

They clapped hands and skated passed each other to get to their respective parties. Daisy came to a halt next to Kairi and Sora.

"Well, well, what seems to have happened here?" she asked, folding her arms and looking down at Sora.

"The Unversed did something to him," Kairi replied. She tried again to pull him to his feet but his slack body and dead weight just pulled her back down. She let out an exasperated sigh and placed her hands on her knees. Sora just slumped to the ground with his face down on the ice. Kairi looked up to the duchess with a pleading expression. "Is there anything you can do about it?"

"Well, I have no idea of the nature of this ailment, but this spell might at least offer some relief," Daisy unfolded her arms and daintily tapped Sora on the head, making the bell ring sweetly. "Ensuna."

Sora grunted and lifted his arms to place his hands by his chest. Kairi's eyes lit up. That was definitely an improvement. He slowly lifted himself to his knees and managed to sit up. He still looked drunk and his body teetered in various directions. Kairi put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"It didn't quite work," Daisy remarked. Her eyebrows slanted in worry. It made her wonder what exactly the nature of the Unversed's power was. Was it a spell?

"If he's co-ordinated enough to get to his feet, it's a success," Kairi said, putting Sora's arm around her again and encouraging him to get up. He was very wobbly but managed the simple task this time. "I'll get him out of here. I'm probably not going to be much use to you on the ice, especially against something so powerful."

"Go, you've already done well," Daisy told her, turning her attention back to the Unversed. It pulled its head out of a pile of snow and wrecked wooden boards. "That point at the bottom is one heck of a weak spot if you can manage to hit it."

Kairi nodded and wished the duchess luck before she started to shepherd Sora across the ice and to the dressing rooms. Minnie, Mickey and Daisy formed a loose line between her and the Unversed. Daisy primed her weapon to attack while Minnie cast another new spell on Mickey that caused him to hover slightly, like Sora's Wisdom Form did. The Unversed turned around and took in the scene before it: the line of adversaries and its first successful catch being hauled away by someone else. It screeched in indignation. The sound was so loud and at such a pitch that everyone had to cover their ears. The Unversed slammed its hands on the ice and threw itself over the line. Kairi looked over her shoulder and her face fell. Her ears were ringing but the sight was all she needed to feel the dread.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep inside the Corridors of Darkness, Zexion ran as fast as he could. It was difficult to tell where one was going inside these corridors because they didn't look like corridors. They looked like a black void with no true sense of up, down, left or right. But Zexion had always had an advantage over anyone else, even his fellow Organisation members. He didn't know how or why but he'd been gifted the ability to find his way via scent when he became a Nobody. It seemed like an odd gift to be bestowed with because his original body actually couldn't smell very well. He used to frequently fall victim to blocked or runny noses (sometimes both at the same time) and during his probationary period, when he was still very, very small, a chemical experiment with Even had burnt off many of his smell receptors. Odd as it was, it was a useful ability and right now he really needed it.

The flaming Captain of the Guard was gaining on him and he needed to open the next portal fast before he was caught. He sniffed as deeply as he could, trying to analyse various scents from the surrounding areas. In particular, he tried homing in on the scent of the greatest darkness. That was where he was likely to find Giselle.

He could smell it. He focussed on it and followed it blindly through the darkness, taking another whiff to confirm his path—wait! His eyes widened. How could that be? The source of the smell of the greatest darkness was lingering in the same place as the greatest light.

The intense heat licking his back urged him to stop worrying about it. He opened a portal and leaped through it recklessly.


	45. Partner Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle comes to a climax, revealing a stunning truth in the aftermath.

Kairi was petrified on the spot as the Unversed lunged for her. Daisy twirled her wand, ringing the bell a few times before pointing it straight at the Unversed.

"Zero Gravity!"

Kairi ducked and Sora slid to the floor with her. The spell hit its mark the Unversed floated above them. It aggressively snarled and reached out as far as it could, trying to claw at Kairi with vicious, rapid slashes. She shuffled away, dragging Sora with her before getting up to stand again since she could move faster on foot. The Unversed dug its fingers into the ice as a lever to resist the Zero Gravity spell and pulled itself forward, reaching out with cold, deadly fingers.

A dark portal opened right in front of Kairi. She didn't have time to even be surprised before someone dressed in black leaped out of it and collided with her. They all fell to the ground in a heap with the newcomer on top of Kairi and Sora sprawled beside them. Something that appeared to be a large fireball followed closely after the new arrival. It soared over the three laying on the ice and rammed into the Unversed. They both sailed over the ice and beyond the rink, bringing down the fence around the boundary and crashing into a snow drift. The portal closed.

The newcomer lifted himself off Kairi and looked down to see what he had impacted. A flurry of emotion raced through Kairi at the sight of him, the most salient being shock, embarrassment and, for some reason, relief. Zexion blinked.

"We seem to be developing a habit of running into each other," he said conversationally.

"Oh… really," Kairi muttered. Her face warmed so much so fast that she thought it might start steaming in this cold weather. She turned away so that she didn't have to look at Zexion's face but her eyes kept flicking back to him. "D-do you mind getting off me?"

"I was planning to," he replied, rolling off her and getting up. He checked himself to make sure everything was in order and that the fireball that had pursued him here hadn't burnt him. He still had his tome.

The Unversed burst out of the snow, sending Goofy flying back onto the rink. He bounced and then slid, spread eagled on his belly, towards the royal troupe. Minnie covered her mouth to look shocked but her eyes only held pity while Daisy just rolled her eyes and Mickey sighed. Stuff like this was typical of the Captain of the Royal Guard. Minnie cast Curaga on him. All of the injuries disappeared in a jiffy but he was still very dizzy.

"What happened here now?" Daisy snapped. "Where's Donald?"

"Still at the castle," Goofy replied, squinting his eyes as he tried to get a clear image of her. "We were fighting that guy we were after—gawrsh! Where'd he go?"

Goofy shook his head and blinked hard to clear away the dizziness and looked around. He spotted a boy in a black coat on the other side of the rink and pointed. "That's him!"

Zexion offered a hand to Kairi. She accepted it, as she always had but this time she was merely holding it while she helped herself up. Zexion raised an eyebrow.

"You've gotten much better since the last time I skated with you."

"I've been practising," Kairi said nonchalantly. She instantly wanted to slap herself in the forehead. Was that all she had to say? Zexion just nodded in agreement. "What are you doing here anyway?" she continued. "The King and Queen are here and was that Goofy?"

"Yes, I am aware of that," Zexion replied curtly. "However, they appear to have larger problems at the moment." The Unversed shook the snow off its body and snarled, glaring menacingly at its opponents. "As for why I am here, I'm looking for somebody and I'm certain that they're here. I'm just not sure where."

Kairi worried her lip between her teeth. She didn't want to ask and there was a hopeful part of her that was wondering if Zexion would stay and help like he had before. She tried to shake that thought from her head and dragged Sora back to his feet. He was a Nobody after all, she had to think about what his charity was really motivated by; what scheme was he trying to brew?

"It's coming back."

Kairi turned her head quickly and gasped. "What?"

The Unversed threw itself across the ice again but this time it took no effort for Minnie to block it with a Reflect spell. It didn't push the Unversed back very far. Instead of charging back into the fray immediately, it yawned. Daisy and Minnie both shot a Firaga spell into its gaping maw. It choked on the fire spells and scratched at its neck as if that would quell the searing flames.

"Think we're boring, huh?" Daisy barked at it. "That'll teach you."

As she said that, the sweet smell of its breath wafted over the rink. Kairi scrunched up her face and covered her nose and mouth with her hand.

"Ugh! It's using that gas again."

"A kind of soporific?" Zexion asked, shifting his eyes towards Sora.

"Maybe… I don't know what that is."

Zexion sniffed deeply. Kairi gasped. "Don't do that! You'll end up like Sora!"

"The gas targets the heart," Zexion muttered. "From what I can tell, it's manipulating emotions by-"

"Z! This isn't really the time."

The Unversed breathed deeply and roared at the royals, sending the magic flames back magnified tenfold. Minnie cast Reflega. The fire rolled over the top of the barrier like a tidal wave and charged towards Kairi, Sora and Zexion. Kairi was at a loss of what to do now. All of a sudden there was a flurry of giant pages surrounding her. The weight at her right side disappeared. She looked around frantically but the pages clouded everything and then without warning she was grabbed around the waist and yanked out of the way. The pages followed and quickly ordered themselves back into the book from whence they came. The blast of fire roared over the ice and up the stands, swallowing all of the seats and the Royal Box. Kairi gaped, hoping Monnie and Mir hadn't stuck around.

"Sora!" she called, looking around for him. Had she dropped him? The wave of fire subsided and there was nothing left to see except a stream of melted ice.

"It's okay, I got him." Kairi turned around. Zexion was still holding her by the waist. In the midst of the paper storm he'd switched to his ice skates. "He'll be safe in the Lexicon. In the meantime, perhaps we should get out of here and leave this to the royalty. They're more capable than we are of handling an enemy like this."

The perimeter of the rink glowed and a barrier shot up around them. Kairi's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"I guess we're not leaving, then," Zexion commented.

The Unversed paid no mind to the barrier and unleashed a new technique. It raised its hands palm up and held them in front of it. Large, dark portals opened in them, allowing several smaller Unversed to jump out. Zexion's brow creased.

"I've never seen an Unversed do that before," he muttered.

The King charged in, taking out a little Flood in one hit. The Scrapper that ran up behind it also posed little challenge. Another Flood got a hit in before it was mercilessly slashed and defeated. Minnie cast Firaga on the emerging hoard while Daisy cast a barrage of Blizzard spells on the Unversed itself, trying to get a hit between the ribs. The Unversed dropped its arms and with one hand swiped at the royals with a wide backhand. Mickey leaped over the shockwave in a large arc and hit the Unversed in the forehead with the blunt end of his Keyblade. Goofy, Minnie and Daisy were also skilled enough to dodge the wave (though Goofy slipped on the ice and ended up sprawled on the rink again when he landed). Kairi turned to Zexion with a desperate look in her eye.

"You jump," Zexion said. "I'll do the rest… now!"

The order confused her at first since she had no idea _how_ to jump in skates. Nevertheless, she tried by digging the toe pick into the ice and leaping forward. A sudden push on her waist sent her higher and further than she was prepared for. She was so shocked that she barely registered clearing the Unversed's attack and almost fell flat on her face on the other side. She caught herself on her hands and a shock of pain shot up her arms. She toppled onto her shoulder and her legs crumpled behind her, very nearly going all the way over her head.

"You could use some work on that."

"The take-off or the landing? I know I definitely need to fix the landing."

"Both, actually." Zexion put a hand under each of Kairi's arms and lifted her to her feet. "That was really awful."

"Thanks," Kairi said bitterly.

The King nimbly climbed to the top of the Unversed's head for another strike but was batted away. He was caught by Minnie's Zero Gravity spell and let down gently. He shook his head but that only seemed to make the fuzziness in his head worse. At that moment Goofy's shield hit the Unversed in the middle of the face. The shield bounced off the Unversed's face and shot off in Daisy's direction. She threw it back with a Reflega spell. The shield slipped through the Unversed's lips and by the sound of a choked gulp it had gotten caught in its throat. Its shoulders began to heave.

Zexion took both of Kairi's hands in his, eyes never leaving the Unversed. "We should get downwind of it."

"Uh, okay," Kairi muttered as he dragged her towards the battle. "W-wait, that takes us closer!"

"It's the only option." Zexion pulled her in front of him and moved one hand to her waist so that he could push her.

The Unversed coughed the shield back up with a torrent of more pink and yellow regurgitation. Daisy and Minnie used their magic to shield themselves as well as Mickey and Goofy against it but the perfume still permeated the atmosphere. The effect was immediate. Minnie's sluggish reflexes weren't fast enough to deflect the blow when the Unversed shoved them out of the way and turned its attention on Kairi and Zexion.

"Return him to me!" it demanded, tightening the fingers of its right hand into a point.

"Kairi, tuck your left foot behind your right ankle and keep your eyes on the Unversed no matter what," Zexion whispered in her ear.

"Why? What are you going to do?" she asked.

She didn't get an answer. The Unversed struck at them with its pointed fingers. Zexion pulled the hand he was holding closer to Kairi's body and spun her, pushing her away from him to dodge the fingers. They cracked the ice deeply. Zexion flipped open the pages of his Lexicon and chose a Blizzara spell to freeze the Unversed's hand to the rink. He put his book away in its inter-dimensional pocket and skated in a smooth arc to meet Kairi and catch her. She was starting to wobble a bit. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around him, widening the circle to slow her gradually. Despite that Kairi found she couldn't quite keep her balance and leaned into Zexion's grip.

"Straighter, please," Zexion snapped.

Kairi bolted into a more upright position at the sudden command. Her standing foot wobbled so she put both skates on the ice. She turned to Zexion with an annoyed huff. "Was that necessary?"

"Yes. That bent over position didn't do justice to the elegant aesthetics of skating."

"You're worried about aesthetics at a time like this?!"

The Unversed tore its fingers from the ice encasement. It turned around to follow them with its claws bared. The metal claws scored deep grooves across the ice as it advanced.

"Skate with me," Zexion commanded, taking a firm grip of Kairi's hand and taking the lead. "Crossing your feet over one another will make you go faster."

Kairi wanted to protest to going faster but Zexion was already picking up the pace and she'd fall if she didn't follow. But the Unversed was gaining quickly and pulled its claws out of the ice for a vicious attack.

"I need you stay strong in your core," Zexion instructed. "And don't freak out."

"That'll make me fr-" Kairi began but was cut off when Zexion suddenly pulled her hard into a wide circle. He gripped her hand tightly with both of his and ducked into a pivot while the momentum forced her to slip so far down that she was almost parallel to the ice. The Unversed's claws swiped past them so fast and so close that Kairi could feel the air whoosh past her. Then Zexion pulled her up. He held her up by one hand and wrapped the other around her waist. Kairi's face was frozen in a dumbfounded expression, so it was clear she wouldn't be standing on her own for at least a few seconds.

After missing so narrowly the Unversed teetered and fell onto its arm, sliding into the boards around the rink. The air was thick with its special perfume and Kairi was starting to feel sluggish. Zexion slapped her in the face.

"Don't fall asleep now. We're about to win," he said. "Either the Unversed has taken significant damage or losing all of that fluid has proven bad for its biology but if you want to save whoever is trapped inside, now is the time to do it. Get to Minnie – she's the closest person who can cast a powerful enough spell to do the job."

"But the Unversed…"

"I'll watch your back."

Kairi nodded and took one glance at the Unversed before skating across the open rink. The Unversed saw her go and pushed itself up as fast as it could. "No!" it hissed. "Return him to me! My love!"

It lunged for her. She squealed. All of a sudden several copies of her skated their way out of her body. The Unversed paused, confused by the multiple versions of her. It growled, seeing the trick and kept going towards the one heading for The Queen. It reached out and almost got its spindly fingers around her before it was suddenly jerked back by a snag. It turned around. Zexion stood beside its other hand. The javelin he'd stolen in the castle was pierced deep into the ice through the hollow parts of the Unversed's wrist. It growled at the Nobody.

The sweet scent was so much more pungent near the royals. When Kairi made it to where Minnie was slumped on the ice, trying to stay awake, she wasn't alert enough to stop and tripped over the queen. The jolt woke her up a bit and she turned and crawled over to Minnie. The mouse queen sat up, rubbing the developing lump on her forehead where Kairi had kneed her.

"Minnie!" Kairi gasped. The thickness of the scent was making it harder to breathe. "We need… to cast… Radiance… or something…" She blinked as her vision started to go blurry.

"I… I can try," Minnie answered slowly, lifting her ring. The gem began to glow. "I'm not sure I can… concentrate…"

Kairi summoned Destiny's Embrace. "Here… channel it with… this." Kairi took Minnie's ring hand and wrapped her small fingers around the handle of the Keyblade, holding them there with both of hers. "H-hey!" she shouted as coherently as she could. The Unversed turned back to her. "Y… you want Sora back?"

"YYEEESSSS!" it screeched.

"We-well… you…" Kairi couldn't think of a good line. "Minnie! Cast it!"

"Faith!"

The Keyblade glowed completely white. Kairi felt a draining sensation as if her very life force itself was being channelled through the weapon, leaving her feeling slightly chilled. The Keyblade's light reached a brilliance that could be rival the glare of the sun before gathering all of its energy into the teeth and firing the spell at the Unversed. It howled as the light spell hit and enveloped it, burning away the darkness and leaving the true being behind.

After the spell had worked its magic Kairi let the Keyblade disappear and collapsed onto her hands. The sweet smell hadn't gone away. The sound of blades scraping across the ice met her ears and she looked up lethargically. Zexion was standing above her with a hand held out. She took it and let him help her up.

"We honestly make a good team," he said, giving her one of those hollow smiles.

She smiled back. "Y-yeah… I guess so."

The sharp sound of a lone applause interrupted their moment. They both turned to the source. The Snow Queen was sitting on the boards with her legs crossed and dressed impeccably, as usual. She wore a white, sleeveless halter neck dress with a split starting above the knee and a short train. Zexion didn't miss the cerulean gem she held between the index and middle finger of her right hand.

"Well done, you two make quite the pair," she sneered. "The beginning was rather rocky but you executed that death spiral as well as a novice could possibly hope to, I suppose. I'm surprised you were able to pull it off at all."

"I knew you had to be here somewhere," Zexion muttered.

"Of course I'd be here. I wouldn't miss the show for the world," Giselle said with a shrug. "But I was left a little disappointed." She kept her cold stare fixed on Kairi.

"Your work here is done, I presume?"

"Almost…"

Kairi's eyes widened. Giselle's eyes drove daggers of ice into her. She had the feeling that the rest of Giselle's 'work' involved something unpleasant for her.

"Surely that can wait until later," Zexion suggested placidly.

"Oh of course, I wouldn't want to be rude and interrupt your little reunion here."

"A reunion?" Kairi wondered in her head. "With Z? Or…"

She turned to the spot where the Unversed once was. Lying in its place was a tall, silver-haired boy and Kairi didn't want to believe it was him. It couldn't be. How could it be?

* * *

Riku woke up groggy and completely unaware of the time. The ceiling above him was painted blue with a large, yellow crescent moon in the middle and lots of little yellow stars around it. Small round lights hung from each star. They were turned off for now, even though the light from the window was very dim. Riku groaned quietly and pushed himself up to lean on the headboard. He was lying on a single bed pushed against the wall and covered with blue sheets dotted with yellow stars. The room he was in was very similar to Kairi's except instead of pink and hearts it was decorated with blue and yellow stars and moons. He turned to his left. There was another single bed beside his but instead of stars the covers were printed with one big crescent moon. Sora was lying there, fast asleep.

The door creaked. Riku turned to it – a round door with crescent moon handles. A familiar head of red hair poked in through the slightly opened door and smiled. "Can I come in?"

Riku smiled back and sat up all the way as she walked over to his bedside. She was dressed in her sleepwear with a pink cardigan wrapped around her to ward off the slight chill of the castle corridors.

"Are you feeling okay?" Kairi asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Could be better," Riku replied, stretching his arms and shoulders. Why did his muscles feel so stiff? "How did I get in here? What time is it?"

"It's almost six," Kairi answered. "You've been out for a few hours. The paramedics said you were okay and allowed you to rest here instead of the hospital. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I went for a walk… and then…" he remembered the feeling of the darkness overtaking, it was a familiar one to him. He looked directly at Kairi. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "Not a single injury on me. Does that mean you remember becoming the Unversed?"

"The Unversed?"

"It's a creature of darkness, like the Heartless. I'd never seen them either before I got here," Kairi answered but there was a bitter taste in her mouth and a slight hesitation when she said the second part. It felt like she was telling a lie but as far as she knew, it was the truth.

Riku let his head fall back on the top of the headboard. "I remember the darkness getting in and then I blacked out." He took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's happened to a lot of people you wouldn't expect," Kairi giggled.

"I let the darkness take over again. I'm really awful."

"Don't beat yourself up! I'm sure you had no choice in it at all, just like everyone else."

"But it looks like I hurt Sora…" Riku turned his head to the left. The light was too low for him to be able to see any injuries immediately. Sora was sleeping so peacefully Riku might have even believed that he didn't have any.

"Sora's fine. He got some bruises but I think they were actually from falling over on the ice." Kairi chuckled at that. "Your Unversed was really powerful. I'm actually surprised that nobody was really hurt."

That didn't make Riku crack a smile. The frown on his solemn expression became even deeper. Kairi sighed and turned to face the wall pasted with starry wallpaper. "Actually… I was wondering about something…" Riku shrugged to indicate that he was listening. Kairi heard the rustle of the pillowcase and continued. "The Unversed are connected to your feelings, you know. And during that fight the Unversed said that it 'loved' Sora."

Riku's hands clenched into fists. His whole body tensed so dramatically that Kairi could feel it through the mattress and sheets. She turned to look at Riku again but he kept his gaze stubbornly on Sora. "Riku… do you love Sora? As more than a friend, I mean."

"Sora loves you," Riku stated, "as more than a friend. I'm really just disappointed in myself. You two seemed like you were finally getting somewhere today, what with your date and all. I… I mean, my Unversed messed that up for you. Sorry."

"But you're in love with Sora too, aren't you?"

A thick knot tightened Riku's throat and he couldn't swallow it down. He didn't want to talk lest his voice betray him but his silence gave Kairi all the answers she needed. She scooted closer and put a gentle hand on his arm.

"It's okay. I'm not mad at you for hiding it or anything. And we're still friends. You haven't ruined anything." She stood up and pulled her cardigan tighter around her. "Well, maybe you should get some more rest, huh? It isn't fun going through something like that, I know."

As soon as the door shut quietly behind Kairi, Riku slid under his covers, wishing he could just sink through them and into an abyss. He had ruined something. He'd known for a long time that Sora and Kairi were in love with each other – probably even longer than Sora and Kairi themselves – and even though he had his own feelings, he wanted them both to be happy. They were his friends, after all. But now that Kairi knew the deep secret he'd been harbouring Riku doubted that Sora would ever get to be happy with her.


	46. The Type of Princess Everyone Should Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the ball but Kairi isn't feeling good about her prospects of going, so Monnie chimes in with a royal solution, as usual.

Kairi sighed as she trudged down the corridor back to her own room. The soft carpet and her socks silenced her footfalls. To be honest, she was actually a little bit mad at Riku for hiding his feelings. They'd been friends for so long and she thought he trusted her. How long had he felt that way about Sora and why didn't he tell anyone? Why did he leave it alone and let everything get so complicated? Riku was always like that, though. He didn't like telling people what he was thinking and feeling. He thought he was tough enough to fight his problems and everyone else's on his own.

She reached her room and had just put her hand on the door handle when she heard someone calling her name from the other end of the corridor. She looked up. Monnie was racing down the corridor as fast as she could. Mir was following close behind as usual. The caretaker was dressed up elegantly in a maroon satin dress with puffed sleeves and a purple bodice. The princess was dressed up in a superb ball gown with princess sleeves. It was coloured aqua with some translucent trimmings in white, especially on the skirt. Her arms were covered with white opera gloves and her tiara was so delicately perched upon her brow that it seemed as though any sudden movement might tip it off. She had a broad grin on her face but it shrank as she approached Kairi and slowed to a stop in front of her friend.

"Um, you're not going to the ball in that, are you?" Monnie asked, putting one hand on her hip and pointing at Kairi's pyjamas.

"Oh, no," Kairi giggled. "I'm not going to the ball. I hope you have fun."

"Oh, that's such a shame," Mir said. "Are you sure you don't want to change your mind?"

Monica's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. She threw her arms down as if she was about to have a tantrum. "Not going to the ball!? Kairi, you have to go! It's the single biggest event in the Valentine's Day Festival. And we've been waiting for it all week. You even had tickets, didn't you?"

"I won some tickets at a bakery, yes," Kairi admitted, "but there were two and I don't have anyone to go with. So I gave them to Max so he could ask out a girl he likes."

"You mean Roxanne?"

"Yeah."

"That was very sweet of you," Mir smiled.

Monnie blew a raspberry. "So what if you didn't have someone to go with? You could have just used one." She blinked as an idea struck. "Hey, maybe I can still get you in if you come with me."

"With you?" Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"Not in that way! Look, since mom and dad and Daisy and Goofy are still sleeping off whatever that Unversed did to them, there's some vacancies in the royal representatives department."

"Royal representatives?"

"Yeah, representing The King and Queen," Monnie replied with a nod. "I wasn't actually going to wear this dress to the ball but I changed my mind after this morning. I'm the stand-in representing The King at the ball tonight. I can claim that you're standing in for The Queen."

"That sounds nice," Kairi muttered, looking down at the floor. "But I don't really have the energy to go to a party right now."

"Nonsense! You can always have enough energy to go to party." Monnie grabbed Kairi by the wrist and dragged her away from the door. She was a fast walker for such a little girl and Kairi had to take long strides to keep up. "Besides, it's just a ball. It's not really much of a party. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, everyone will know that you're just standing in and won't demand anything of you."

"Monnie, you do realise that the ball is in an hour, right? Maybe even less," Kairi pointed out. "You're already dressed up. I probably won't even have time to get ready."

"Don't worry, you'll have time. It's not like it's going to take us long to get there. And Patty is the best at what she does."

* * *

Monica threw open the white doors into the largest and most lavish dressing room Kairi had ever seen. The walls were all white and the floor was painted with a golden mural that looked like an abstracted sun crossed with a compass and a clock. It was polished until it was almost a mirror. The room was by far the messiest that Kairi had seen in the castle with dummies, fabric rolls, clothing racks and baskets of sewing tools everywhere. On the right side of the room there were a number of wardrobes and a spacious desk with a state-of-the-art sewing machine on it. On the left side of the room were three hair and make-up stations, complete with lights around the mirrors. The make-up was still left out on the vanity tops. The far side of the room was a wall of curtains that Kairi guessed was hiding windows.

There were only two occupants in the room. There was Tabitha, going around and picking up various dresses, coats and sashes that had been abandoned on the floor, and there was a palomino pony doing her part by picking up the discarded sewing supplies. Even though she was cleaning, the pony clearly wasn't a servant just judging by the red blouse and a green pencil skirt that complemented each other like a red rose blooming on a thin stem. A long white wand poked out of her skirt pocket.

"Stop the presses!" Monnie cried out, holding both of her hands up in a gesture to halt. The sudden cry startled the two ladies in the room, who turned to the door. Monnie hurried into the room, running straight to the pony. "Patty! We have a huge emergency. My friend Kairi here doesn't have anything to wear to the ball."

"Good evening, Kairi," Tabitha said, taking her current collection of clothing to one of the racks. "I'm glad to see that you've recovered well. The past few days have just been dreadful for you, haven't they?"

"Yeah. Actually, I wasn't even going to go to the ball until Monnie invited me," Kairi replied.

"Maybe that would be for the best," said the cat.

"No! It's out of the question," Monnie insisted, turning around and swapping her gaze between Tabitha and Kairi. "This is the best thing that's going to happen before she leaves. Kairi, you are so going to regret it if you don't go."

"Absolutely," Patty agreed. "Look, don't fret about the outfit. There are plenty of dresses around here that you can wear to the ball, it's just a matter of finding the right one. Come now – Kairi, was it? – stand over here. Tabitha, would you mind bringing over a full-length mirror?"

Patty hooked one arm around Kairi's right elbow and led her into the middle of the room. Tabitha brought over an oval-shaped full-length mirror that had been put away in the corner of the room.

"Hey, it's no big deal," Kairi protested as Patty steered her to face the mirror. "I mean, I don't even have a date. What's the point of going to a Valentine's Day Ball without a date?"

"I'm going without a date," Monnie said with a shrug.

"I think you should just come and see it," Mir interjected, coming up beside Kairi. She put a gentle hand under her chin to lift her face and coax her to straighten her posture. "You can leave early if you like but it would be a shame to miss it. You'll look lovely at the ball."

"Absolutely," Patty chimed in, squeezing into the mirror's frame on Kairi's other side. "You're a beautiful girl. It'll be no effort to turn you into a radiant princess for the ball." The wand came out of her pocket with a flourish and a flick of the wrist that caused magic glitter to sparkle around the tip. Patty looked around the room, waving her wand at a few of the things she needed. They levitated and floated closer to the middle of the room where Kairi stood. "Now, the dresses on this rack are all a size that should fit you, we'll need some petticoats and maybe a few other things – oh, first we need to get you out of those pyjamas."

Patty waved her wand at Kairi. The pyjamas magically disappeared and reappeared in the air beside the redhead. Kairi squeaked and tried to cover her body with her hands, even though she wasn't nearly nude. Just the thought of someone being able to undress her with a literal flick of the wrist was a little unnerving. Tabitha had the mind to go and close the door to the dressing room before anyone could walk past and see inside. The nightclothes dropped to the floor and Patty flicked her wand, carelessly throwing the pyjamas across the floor and into some corner of the room.

"Now that that's out of the way," Patty said to herself. She leaned over to give Kairi a good sniff, which the girl flinched away from. "Good, you've bathed recently."

"Not going to the ball, huh?" Monnie said, putting her hands on her hips and giving Kairi a smug smirk. "Then why bother to shower."

"Just because," Kairi retorted. Then she realised what a terrible answer that was and relented: "because when I woke up I was still sweaty and smelled like that Unversed's weird perfume. Are you sure this is alright, though? I mean, when we got here it looked like you were packing up."

Patty laughed at that while using her magic to pass a hairbrush to Mir. "Absolutely, Kairi. The Valentine's Day ball is an opportunity not to be missed and I am honoured to work with a friend of The Princess, especially a friend as pretty as you.

_"The ball's around the corner_   
_So don't sit here looking drab._   
_I can see you're the kind of girl_   
_All the boys wish they had."_

Patty grinned at her while flicking quickly through the dresses with her wand. Mir brushed Kairi's hair out of the way and tied it up with a piece of ribbon offered by Tabitha, singing:

_"Let's shimmer up these pretty locks  
And brighten up those cheeks."_

_"You've got the kind of face  
That everybody has to meet," _ Patty interjected, suddenly appearing beside Kairi again to give her face a once over, then disappearing just as quickly. A dress was thrust in front of her by magic. She pulled back in surprise but then looked in the mirror and realised that it was being tested. A number of dresses went by, being experimented in the same manner while Patty continued:

_"You'll be popular, spectacular,_   
_The star of the show._   
_The kind of girl I'd recommend_   
_To everyone I know._   
_Bedazzling! Amazing! You've just got to go."_

Mir added: _"Because you're the kind of princess_  
 _Everybody should know."_

The dresses disappeared from view and one of them suddenly appeared _on_ Kairi. She cringed at herself in the mirror. Floating in space they all looked very nice but this one didn't flatter her in the least. The top half of the blue and aqua dress was very blousy and the tiered skirt and sleeves were very inelegant. It disappeared and was replaced with a pink one that would have been okay if not for the stiff bodice and the high collar and ruff almost choking her.

_"Let's start with a dress;_  
 _The first thing you need._  
 _We'll find the perfect style_  
 _For a stunning lady."_  
  
The next dress was form-hugging but comfortable with one strap over the right shoulder and a skirt that flared out at the thigh with taffeta ruffles. It would have been nice if not for the garish, unflattering shade of purple the whole thing was coloured. Patty quickly dismissed it for something dark blue – a backless halter neck with a very low neckline. Kairi blushed when she realised that it was clearly for a girl with much bigger assets than her since she didn't fill it out very well. It was also too cold to wear it and Kairi was already starting to get goosebumps. Patty mustn't have liked it anyway because in the blink of an eye it was gone and Kairi had her chemise back. Her eyes widened and a pit of dread opened up in her belly when she felt the awfully familiar clamp of something tight around her waist and Tabitha's keen hands pulling the laces. Kairi tried to protest but the next dress was already on. It had a tight bodice and wide, puffed sleeves, also with a high collar and very frilly ruff. The skirt was enormous and splayed out on the floor all around her. It was a ghastly shade of blue that made her look pasty and clashed with her hair.

_"Could it be trumpet style or A-line?_   
_Something periwinkle blue?_   
_With a corset or a crinoline?"_

Patty pointed her wand at Kairi's skirt and all of a sudden it was billowing up as a crinoline appeared below it. The skirt settled over the perfect dome-shape of the net, picking up the extra material so that the hem only just settled on the floor.

_"Somehow this isn't you,"_ Monnie sang before she burst out into peals of laughter and doubled over. Kairi glared at her but couldn't help smiling also. She looked silly in this outfit.

Patty scrapped this one too and replaced it with a knitted, white A-line dress that had long sleeves and a high collar, not as high as the previous dresses but still reaching about halfway up her neck. The collar, cuffs and hem were lined with lace and threaded with thin, pale pink ribbon. Little pearl buttons dotted a dainty line from the bust to the collar. It was nice but a bit too plain for a ball. Patty waved her wand around some more, commenting melodically on the outfit so far:

_"Lace and ribbon's pretty_   
_But we'll spice it up a bit._   
_With buttons and some chiffon_   
_Here's the perfect fit."_

Another dressed was zapped on over the white one in a flurry of sparkles. It was light pink with princess sleeves and a gathered hem, made of satin with several layers of a chiffon underskirt that was gathered into ruffles. There were more buttons on this one but at the back starting at the cinched waist and going up to the neckline, which dipped low at the front. A brooch with a loose ribbon was snapped onto the front of the neckline by magic and looped itself into a bow.

_"Liven up that neckline  
With little loopy bow."_

_"This dress is so fantastic  
For the princess on show,"_ Tabitha added.

"Now your hair," Monnie said, grabbing Kairi by the wrist and dragging her away from the full length mirror and over to the vanities. She pulled out the ribbon that had Mir had tied it up with before she was shooed away by Tabitha.

"You don't want to get all the oils and make-up on your nice opera gloves, do you?" the maid scolded. Monnie stuck her tongue out but backed away and let the older women do their work anyway.

Tabitha gave Kairi's locks a quick re-brush while Patty magically pulled out the drawers of the vanities, which were actually padded jewellery cases filled with a diverse selection of necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, brooches and hairpieces. Tabitha picked up a large pump bottle filled with a blue liquid and sprayed it on Kairi's hair, especially over her fringe and bangs. Kairi squeezed her eyes shut against the spray that was getting in her face. The maid brushed through her hair again, giving particular attention to the front and brushing in long, deliberate strokes to style the fringe into one smooth lock that lay diagonally across Kairi's forehead. While Tabitha fussed with her hair and started to pull it up, Patty floated various pieces of jewellery over Kairi's neck, head and hands to try them, singing:

_"Diamond or pearl?  
Tiara or crown?"_

_"Shall we have it up in pins  
Or just let it all flow down?" _ Tabitha wondered, releasing the elaborate hairstyle she was holding in place.

Patty abandoned the jewellery for a moment, turning her attention instead to the make-up. The foundation was smeared on easily with magic and the beautician chose a rose pink lipstick to paint Kairi's lips with.

_"For the final touch, some rouge and pink"_

She poked the redhead in the cheeks to elicit a smile and Kairi giggled.

_"And don't let that smile down._   
_After tonight you'll be_   
_The talk of Disney Town."_

It took a little bit more painting, drawing and powdering on her face while Tabitha was pulling her hair into some sort of style before Patty gave her the nod. The pony pulled the girl out of the make-up chair and back to the middle of the room to examine herself in the mirror, giddy with excitement and self-determined success.

_"You're wonderful, so beautiful,_   
_Now you're ready to go._   
_The kind of girl I'd introduce_   
_To everyone I know."_

Patty steered Kairi in front of the mirror.

_"Miraculous! Fantabulous!_   
_The girl you have to see._   
_You'll be the kind of princess_   
_Everybody wants to meet."_

Kairi gawked at her reflection. She almost didn't recognise herself with the make-up on. She was like a living doll with rosy cheeks and pink, rose petal-like lips. Tabitha had tied half of her hair up and secured it at the back with a clip that had a large, round sapphire. The colour was surprisingly harmonious with the pink and white, perhaps just because it matched her eyes so perfectly. Mir came up beside her and smiled at the polished girl. In her hands she had a piece of jewellery Kairi hadn't seen yet; Patty hadn't tried it on her. The hedgehog clasped the piece around Kairi's neck – a black choker made of ribbon with another sapphire as the centrepiece. She pushed Kairi under the chin again to straighten her up. There was no trace of the old Kairi in the mirror anymore, only a dignified princess here to represent the queen.

_"A sweetheart, a beauty,  
A blossom in the snow,"_ Mir sang.  
 _Kairi, you're the kind of princess_  
 _Everybody should know."_


	47. Love, My Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi and Monnie make their stunning introduction to the ball. Meanwhile, the Snow Queen is perparing for her night of nights.

They'd made it squarely in time. Monnie and Kairi, followed closely by Mir arrived in the hall before the ballroom at seven o'clock sharp. It was a wide hall flanked by Corinthian columns that had their normally ornate heads further decorated with flowers and paper hearts. Strings of roses coiled around the columns to the bases where more flowers made little beds. It was beautiful but there was something off about it that Kairi couldn't put her finger on. The carpet in the hall itself was a slightly different colour to the carpet in the corridor they'd just walked off and a few of the columns had cracks and patches of moisture on them. One column they passed had a few singed flowers. Kairi didn't have time to dwell on it because Monnie was pulling her by the hand up to a table in front of the double doors. There were two nicely dressed volunteers, a man in a black suit and a woman in a lilac off-the-shoulder dress. Their table was covered with a red tablecloth with a flamboyant flower arrangement. The other items on the table included a money box, a plastic tub full of ticket stubs, a list on a clipboard and a booklet of extra tickets. The volunteers gasped and grinned when they saw the three approaching.

"Just let me do all the talking," Monnie whispered before they stopped at the table.

"Princess Monica!" the woman exclaimed. "Oh, you look just divine in that dress."

"Thank-you," Monnie replied in a prim, formal voice that Kairi hadn't heard her use before. "I trust the butler is ready to announce Princess Kairi and I into the ball?"

The volunteers exchanged confused looks. The woman picked up the clipboard and started flipping through the list. "Um, Princess Kairi? We haven't got anything about her… does she have a ticket?"

"No, she graciously volunteered to step in as The Queen's representative," Monnie said matter-of-factly. "It's all official, although I understand if it hasn't been written down yet since this was so last-minute, no thanks to what happened this morning."

"Oh, okay," the woman replied, accepting Monnie's excuse easily and smiling again. "Yes, I'll tell Mr Mocking right away and have him announce you in."

Monnie briefly flashed a smirk at Kairi and the three of them followed the woman in the lilac dress to the doors. She gestured for them to wait before she disappeared behind the doors. Kairi fidgeted with the lace on her cuffs while they waited. The music playing in the ballroom in a style that she had never encountered before. She hoped nobody would realise that she was actually not officially Minnie's representative. In a way it almost felt like she was gate crashing.

After five minutes that felt like ten to Kairi, the woman returned and opened both doors wide enough for three people to step through comfortably. However, Monnie gestured over her shoulder for Kairi to go behind her. The music stopped and they were left waiting again. Kairi rubbed her lips together worriedly, not wanting to bite or chew them and ruin the make-up Patty had done such a meticulous job on. She heard Mark Mocking's voice through the open doors:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Crown Princess Monica Mouse, here on behalf of The King, and her caretaker, Mrs Mir Prickles."

"Tch!" Monica hissed. "He didn't have to say she's my 'caretaker'."

"Now, Monica," Mir warned as they started to walk towards the door, "you're here on behalf of your father tonight so be on your best behaviour. Mark is only saying what's true."

Kairi began to follow them but Monnie put up a hand telling her to wait. The light from the ballroom was so much brighter than the light from the hall. As soon as Monnie stepped into it the disgruntled look on her face disappeared and was replaced with a cordial smile. She and Mir entered the ballroom together. That left Kairi standing by herself beside the doors. She hugged herself to try and stop the nervous shakes. More minutes went by and Kairi wondered if Mark Mocking had actually been smart enough to realise that Monnie's claim was false. Her knee was starting to bounce involuntarily when all of a sudden she heard:

"Princess Kairi, here on behalf of The Queen."

She jumped. That was her. She stiffly walked into the light of the ballroom and stepped inside. The whole room was quiet, which did nothing to calm the fluttering flock of butterflies in her stomach. The ballroom almost blinded her. It was incredibly bright. The enormous chandelier on the ceiling shone golden light into every corner of the room, making everything look gilded, even the white marble floor. She stepped out onto a semi-circular platform with a large staircase leading down to the enormous, circular room. Hopefully she didn't look as lost and confused as she felt in this giant, crowded place.

She walked up to the top of the staircase. Mark Mocking was perched on the balustrade and smiling warmly at her. She swallowed and took a deep breath, looking down the stairs. There were so many people with their eyes on her, she thought she would faint right there. She looked around as she took slow steps down the red carpet. The curtains on some of the windows were open, showing a balcony and a light rain of snow so fine that it melted before it even hit the ground. On the left side of the room a stage was set up, skirted with golden velvet and occupied by a band of twelve people. The other side of the room had a buffet table with drinks and little round tables were set up around the perimeter of the ballroom. Everyone seemed to be in pairs tonight. She spotted Max and Roxanne together in the crowd, just as stunningly dressed up as everyone else: Max in a black suit with a white tie and Roxanne in an aquamarine off-the-shoulder trumpet style dress. They waved at her and she smiled back.

At the bottom of the stairs a waitress guided her to a particular table with a tablecloth that was trimmed in royal red where Monnie and Mir were already seated. The tables weren't numbered but they were all decorated with flower arrangements similar to the one on the volunteers' table. Kairi took a seat next to Monica and the band started to play again. The music was smooth but upbeat.

"I can't believe they made it a jazz theme," Monnie huffed. "You can't have jazz at a ball, that's not right."

"I think it's lovely and they've done a wonderful job with all of the decorations," Mir said.

"Yeah, me too," Kairi agreed, looking around the room. It was amazing. Not as stunning as watching her islands rebuild themselves around her but close enough. She no longer had any idea why she didn't want to come in the first place.

* * *

The rooms of the ice castle were much darker. Not a single light was on since the lady of the castle was currently fast asleep on a bed of snow, covered loosely with sheets of woven snowflakes. A large antique clock hanging above her bedroom door struck eight and the large bell hanging from her corbeled ceiling began to rock. The big, brass bell was slow in the cold but it steadily gained momentum until the hammer inside was hitting the edges, making a heavy ring that could vibrate a person's bones. The Snow Queen awoke. Her eyelids lifted slowly. The bell slowed after a few good rings, leaving only the residue of its resonance vibrating the air.

Giselle sat up, clad in a long, white negligee, and stroked her long, snow-white hair. There were two large piles of snow lying on either side of her bed. With a simple wave of her hand they both came to life and rose to a fairly average human height. The snow moulded itself and compacted until it took the form of two women with bluish, icy skin and glassy eyes. They wore long but simple white gowns and on their backs were triangular wings. The angel maiden on Giselle's right offered her a hand, which Giselle gladly took as she rose out of bed. With a click of her fingers the bed was made. She stepped away from her handmaiden and did quick little half turns and spins to the middle of her room, letting the hem of her negligee twist and fly up around her legs. Tonight was the night.

Giselle's room had no windows, only walls made of mirrors and the high corbeled dome ceiling. The only piece of furniture in it was the queen size four-poster bed opposite the double doors. Giselle commanded one of her maids to the door, which opened into a large antechamber that served as a wardrobe. The other slipped the negligee off her delicately and headed to the antechamber just as the one that had left was returning, carrying the outfit that her mistress had already decided on. It was all white with some tiny shimmering beads decorating the pancake tutu. The attached bodice was backless and strapless and her stockings were subtly iridescent and icy blue. She watched herself in her mirrors as she stretched and warmed up her muscles, admiring the way the layered tutu fluttered as gracefully as a romantic tutu.

The second handmaid returned with a brush and a large box. The first took the brush and began to work on Giselle's hair while the second opened the box in her hands and pulled out the various compartments, revealing an enormous selection of jewelled hairpieces. The handmaiden finished brushing her queen's hair and began to style it into the tight, elaborate hairdo that Giselle wanted. The handmaiden began to braid exactly the way Giselle wanted her to. She twisted and coiled the hair and secured it at the back with the blue topaz hairpins that Giselle desired. She finished the hairstyle with a shining silver clip, adorned with diamonds, that tucked into the top of the bun and rose high over Giselle's head like a tiara.

The Snow Queen commanded both of her servants to leave and fetch more things from her wardrobe. Then she turned to her bed. She walked up to it and kneeled down to open the hidden drawer beneath the sheet and took out a velvet jewellery box. She opened it and gazed lovingly at the seven shining Heart Crystals. In a matter of hours she would put them to use and fulfil her wish. She closed the drawer and snapped the box shut, then rose to her feet and turned to leave the room. Her handmaidens followed her out of her wardrobe and into the next room, which was a wide hallway. It branched off in two directions at the end, as well as a third option: an arched doorway with a door made of thin ice that led to a small, semi-circular balcony. The snowfall on the other side was gentle. She walked towards the door while her handmaidens followed her, one carrying her white pointe slippers, the other carrying a large oval-shaped box.

The ice door opened when she willed it and she stepped outside. There wasn't much of a breeze but from here she could look down on her little garden. The lens was still there and it was perfect. She was so close now and everything was ready. Now if only Kairi wouldn't get in the way…

Giselle scowled at the thought. She turned around and her handmaidens instantly parted for her as she made her way quickly down to her throne room. It was dim and empty. She sighed. This was where Zexion would appear whenever he visited her castle and she would have to take him bodily to different rooms. He always showed up here even though he knew so many other places in the castle. She crossed the distance of the throne room and climbed the podium of the mirror, stopping just a step away from it. It read her thoughts and showed her just what she was curious to know. It rippled and was suddenly filled with bright, golden light. There was Kairi, sitting at a table with a plate of food, next to Monica Mouse, Max Goof and some random other redhead that Giselle didn't care about. She looked happy but more importantly she was preoccupied and would probably be so for the rest of the night. That put Giselle's heart and mind at ease.

The mirror rippled and returned to merely reflecting what was in front of it. Giselle turned around and the handmaiden holding the box approached her. With a thought from the Snow Queen, the ice crystals around the podium suddenly lit up brightly. The maid opened the oval box and once again divided the compartments. It was a make-up box with all of the cosmetics enchanted so that they didn't freeze in the arctic climate. Once opened, the box began to play a sweet and familiar tune. Giselle stared at it with a faraway look in her eyes. The black steel box was so old – older than her. There was a smaller mirror lining the inside of the lid and a name carved on a gold plate just under the lid. Giselle traced the name gingerly with her thumb. Years of doing so had eventually caused the name to start fading but she could still read it. Even if it had already gone it wouldn't matter, she would remember the name forever. She abruptly turned to her other handmaiden and snatched the pointe slippers from her grasp, thrusting the box with the Heart Crystals into their place.

_"Take these crystals, hold them tight,"_ she crooned in time with the musical melody from the box.

_"For if they're lost we lose the right_   
_To try to reach the purest light_   
_Then it will be an eon 'til another night."_

The handmaiden bowed and left the room to do as she was bidden. Giselle trusted that the angel knew what to do with them – she knew all that Giselle knew and would do anything Giselle commanded. Drawing more snow from outside, the Snow Queen constructed another snow angel handmaid that began to take cosmetic items out of the box. Giselle turned to stare into her own eyes in the reflection of her enchanted mirror as the new handmaid began to apply her make-up.

_"There's a dream I've always had_   
_Where I am never alone or sad_   
_Because I have a loving lad_   
_And I'm a little stronger, just a tad."_

The handmaid finished with the foundations and began to redefine her eyes. Giselle could see already that she was subconsciously redrawing her features to resemble a different familiar face but didn't really mind at all.

_"But this dream will never last._   
_It always ends and I am cast_   
_Into a world of stark contrast_   
_And even then the greatest times have passed."_

Her maid finished her eyes but had to stop because Giselle's mirror had stopped reflecting and she was no longer concentrating on her make-up. Instead she was looking at Zexion, sitting on the ruined library steps and reading his Lexicon. He sighed and looked up, clouds of warm mist floating up into the dark night air and melting the fragile snowflakes it came in contact with. She wondered what he was thinking about, lifting her fingers to sit softly on the mirror's glass near his face.

_"My love, my love, you're always mine._   
_My love, my love won't age with time._   
_My heart will be forever thine"_

The image wavered and disappeared, leaving her staring at herself again. The handmaiden started to work on powdering her cheeks with silver blush.

_"And each time I'll try again to make you mine."_

The last thing left to apply was the pale pink lipstick and then Giselle placed her shoes on the ground. The handmaid that had done her make-up put the cosmetics away and closed the box. Giselle commanded the angel holding it to put it back while the other put Giselle's ballet slippers on for her and tied the ribbon. She smirked. It was almost too good be true. There were only a few short hours left and then…


	48. My Light Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ball is in full swing but not everybody is in on the love.

The hours went by so quickly now that Kairi had started having fun. She had initially resigned to arriving, looking and leaving early but it was already ten o'clock and she didn't want to stop. Her assumptions that there would only be couples there also turned out to be false. There were some groups of singles and families at the ball. For the past half hour Monnie had been taking turns dancing with Donald's nephews, who were here under the supervision of their grandparents, Hortense and Quackmore. Earlier in the night she'd also done some friendly dancing with four young mice, two boys and two girls, who Mir explained were Monica's cousins.

Patty, Mir, and Tabitha had been right when they were dressing Kairi up for the ball. The Princess of Heart had just come back to the royal table for another break after dancing with a boy who'd asked her to. A number of boys and even a girl had approached Kairi to ask for dances, most of them doing so nervously with awareness of her high status as royalty (even though it was fake). The music would swap from slow to upbeat frequently and right now the band was playing a loud, jovial number with enthusiastic vocals and a jazzy bass.

Kairi sat down at the seat next to Mir, who hadn't danced much the entire night. She mostly stayed at the royal table and kept a watchful eye over Monnie. To be fair, there weren't many men at the ball around her age (Kairi guessed that Mir had probably danced with both of them already) and she was technically still working as Monnie's babysitter. It must be a tough job, that. Mir chuckled as Kairi plonked down in the chair beside her and reached over to straighten up some of the blood red locks that had fallen out of place.

"Do you still want to leave early?" the hedgehog asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just a couple more dances after this and then I'll go," Kairi replied.

That made Mir laugh. "Oh, Kairi, you've been saying that for an hour! It's okay if you don't want to leave. And anyway, I heard that there's going to be a meteor shower tonight. If the weather clears up in a couple of hours we may get to see it. The snow has already stopped falling, so cross your fingers."

Kairi held up her right hand and crossed her index and middle finger. She and Mir both had a good, long laugh. Still, it would be nice if the weather did clear up enough to watch a meteor shower. They happened so frequently on the Destiny Islands but Kairi never got sick of them. The pair settled down and the conversation died between them. Kairi looked out over the dance floor. Max and Roxanne were out there and Max had taken off his jacket, leaving just his shirt and vest on.

"Hey, Mrs Prickles," Kairi piped up, folding her arms and leaning on the table, "how come you didn't have a date tonight? Isn't there a Mr Prickles who could have come?"

Mir looked down at her lap and shook her head with a damp sigh. Kairi's heart tightened. She had a good idea of what was coming next. "No," Mir admitted. "There hasn't been a Mr Prickles for a long time now."

Kairi looked down at her arms guiltily. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay, you didn't know," Mir said, turning to the girl with a sad smile. "And it's not your fault. Life just happens that way sometimes."

Kairi nodded. "I know, I know how that feels… I lost my mom too. I was still really little."

Mir patted Kairi's shoulder comfortingly. They both knew there was nothing else they could say to each other on the subject that would make them feel better so they lapsed into silence again. At the end of the song Monnie returned and took the seat next to Mir. She was panting and smiling. She turned to Mir and Kairi and pouted at their gloominess.

"Hey, what's with those faces? Aren't you having fun?" she asked.

Kairi's lips flipped up into a smile. "Of course I am. I just got a little tired out from all the dancing and needed some down time. I'll be back up in a sec."

"Oh yeah?" Monnie yawned. "That's great. I think the next song they're going to play is a slow one but after that we can go and do some more dancing." She yawned again.

Mir chuckled. "I think this little princess has had enough dancing for tonight."

"No I haven't!" Monnie protested but Mir and Kairi could both see the tiredness in the little princess' eyes. "And besides, it's my responsibility to stay and represent The King."

"It's okay, you've got me here representing The Queen, remember?" Kairi said. "I'll stay up and keep the party going. You look like you need some sleep."

"Kairi's quite right," said Mir, standing up and pushing Monica out of her seat. "It's time for you to go to bed."

Mir ushered Monnie back up the stairs to leave the ballroom. Kairi now sat alone. The next song the band played was slow, just as Monnie had predicted. After a minute of sitting, listening to the band and watching the couples on the dance floor change from jumping and hopping to embracing, Kairi got up and crossed the room to get a drink. She took one of the highball glasses of water that were pre-poured and sipped at it slowly. She stood by the side of the dance floor and watched the dancing, swaying in time with the music. The next song was also a slow one and halfway through one of the floating waiters came up to take her glass. She hadn't realised that she'd finished it already. The jazz band hired for the night had two vocalists and right now the sultry voice of the female singer was softly singing the lyrics of a love song.

Out of the corner of her eye Kairi noticed a flicker of movement at the top of the stairs. A latecomer had just come in through the doors. She turned her head, expecting to only be distracted for a moment but her eyes widened and she froze, startled by the unexpected appearance. Sora was standing at the top of the stairs, wearing the same thing he'd been wearing in the morning. His head turned this way and that as his eyes searched the crowd. They locked with hers and for a moment they both just stared at each other. Then a wide smile split Sora's face and he jogged down the stairs. Kairi also began moving towards the bottom of the stairs. They met halfway and just stood there in front of each other. Suddenly there was an awkward moment between them where they both found it hard to meet each other's eyes.

"Um… w-wow, you look amazing, Kairi," Sora finally managed to stutter.

Kairi blushed and smiled. "Thanks. I'm glad you made it tonight."

He grinned. "Yeah. I had just enough munny to buy a ticket at the door since we didn't end up paying at the ice show thing. Uh… I feel really underdressed." He bowed his head and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"You should have gone to see Patty before you came," Kairi said, laughing at him good-heartedly. Sora cocked his head to the side, which just made Kairi laugh more. "At least you're feeling alright now. I was pretty worried about you."

Now it was Sora's turn to laugh. "Yeah, I just needed to sleep it off." He looked around the ballroom. "Whoa, this place is incredible. I'm glad I made it. Hey, did they put decorations outside too?"

Before Kairi could put her thoughts in, Sora grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her off to the windows. The bottom panels had little glass doors in them that Sora pushed through excitedly. The excitement subsided when he realised that there were, in fact, no decorations outside. There was only the balcony with its concrete balustrade.

"I was about to say," Kairi said, "there probably wouldn't be. It's really cold out here."

"Yeah, you're right," Sora replied, rubbing his arms. Kairi hugged herself around the shoulders, feeling the chill even though she had more layers of clothing than him. He looked up. "But the weather's better now. The stars are out."

Kairi turned her gaze upwards. The clouds were clearing and the stars were twinkling brightly. A small, puffy cloud moved away and the moon came out, nice and full. It was a beautiful sight to behold on any world. Kairi turned to look at Sora. The sparkling stars were reflecting in his eyes so that it was as if they were a starry sky themselves. The look on his face was one of whole-hearted joy that Kairi could sympathise with but didn't fully understand. He'd sailed through that cosmos on a Gummi Ship to save some of those stars – the worlds. That made them so precious to him and seeing them all twinkling back at him lit a warm glow in his heart like no other.

Unbeknownst to either of them, they were being watched from a window two floors up. A dark corridor in the castle made it easier to see outside and observe the two teenagers on the balcony. Riku sighed, misting up the window a bit.

"So," Kairi continued, trying to start up a conversation again, "is Riku coming to the ball as well?"

"No, he said he was still tired," Sora said, finally turning away from the stars. "Personally, I think he just feels guilty about becoming the Unversed."

Kairi nodded understandingly. "You're probably right. He feels bad about trying to hurt you."

"And you," Sora added. He looked back up at the stars.

Kairi shook her head when he wasn't looking. _"He was more worried about you… he was always more worried about you,"_ she told Sora in her head. Sora would never hear it, he wasn't psychic. However, Kairi was now convinced that it was completely true. Riku had always cared about Sora on a whole different level to the way he cared about anyone else, even her. In retrospect, it made sense and Riku had confirmed it that afternoon. She sighed quietly and turned away to look at the empty, snow-covered garden. The cold didn't bother her so much anymore, since her heart was feeling a bit cold too. The elation that she thought she would feel with Sora there beside her had disappeared. She wanted to be happy with him here but the thought of Riku and his feelings suddenly set up a wall between her and Sora. She didn't want Sora's heart if it meant breaking Riku's. Best friends didn't do that.

Suddenly Sora shivered violently and turned to her with chattering teeth. "Y-you know, i-i-it's _reeeaally_ cold out here. Let's g-go back inside."

Kairi chuckled and took his hand. Inside was so drastically warmer than outside that Kairi's clothes and make-up felt damp. The band had just changed songs and the vocalists were taking a break. They were still going with slow songs for the time being. Sora nudged Kairi in the arm to get her attention.

"Hey, should we dance?"

Kairi giggled. "That's not usually how a guy asks a girl to dance."

"Oh, I see how it is," Sora said with a huff, although Kairi could see by the smile on his face that he was just pretending. All of a sudden he threw his free arm out and brought it in to his chest with an overly-flamboyant flourish. He bowed deeply and said in the most genteel voice he could manage: "Princess Kairi, may I please have this dance?"

That made Kairi burst into hysterics. "Of course, Sir Sora."

Sora straightened up and grinned at her. They went onto the dance floor hand-in-hand and found a space where they could move around a bit. It was suddenly awkward between them again. They stood almost toe-to-toe and Sora put a hand on Kairi's lower back, almost covering it entirely with how large his hands were. Kairi's hand was dwarfed in his. She put her other hand on his shoulder and he let her lead through slow dance steps she didn't quite remember learning but had memorised. They were like that for a little while, just holding each other close and moving to the music like every other couple dancing but eventually Sora decided that he was sick of listening to a song without lyrics and added his own.

 _"Tonight's no other story,_  
_It's all the same to me._  
_The lights shine all around us_  
_But there's only one light I can see."_

Kairi blushed furiously. The lyrics simultaneously made her heart pound and deflate. She tried to look down so that he wouldn't see the doubt in her eyes but he pressed his forehead against hers to make her look up at him.

 _"The moon's got nothing on ya,_  
_Nor the sun, stars or the sea._  
_There's only one light I need tonight_  
_And it's already right in front of me."_

Riku opened the window and leaned over the sill. It may not have been snowing but the air was still biting cold. He could faintly hear the music coming from the ball and looked through the windows. He could see so many couples dancing and for a moment was able to glimpse the pair he was looking out for. He sighed and looked away, gazing instead at the full moon that was now completely uncovered.

 _"Tonight's no other story,_  
_It's always the same for me._  
_The lights shine for everybody,_  
_It seems that there's no light for me._

 _"But I'm glad to see them happy_  
_Like they always wanted to be._  
_There's only one light I need tonight_  
_But I can't make it shine for me."_

Sora squeezed Kairi just a little closer, warmer against her than he'd ever been, even on the hottest days on the Destiny Islands. Their eyes locked. They both had the most amazing shade of sapphire blue. She was smiling a little and blushing at the sweet words.

 _"I don't need gold or glitter._  
_I don't need diamonds, true._  
_I don't need any rain or shine_  
_As long I have you."_

Riku stubbornly continued to watch the moon and stars, even though he was aching to turn back to the gold lights spilling out of those tall windows.

 _"The sun rises, the sun sets,_  
_The moon crosses the sky._  
_The lights shine for everyone_  
_So there's no need to cry."_

In the end he caved to his desire and looked through the windows. He could see Sora and Kairi clearly through one of them now and it made every pump of his heart painful. His eyes got hot and he tried to dam them up but a couple of tears slipped loose. He wiped them away with his thumbs quickly and berated himself. Crying over things wasn't mature, that was something he'd convinced himself of when he was very small and still believed now.

 _"And though I'm glad to see him happy_  
_I can't help but cry._  
 _'Cause the one man I need tonight_  
_Will never be mine."_

Riku slumped on the window sill and stared sadly at his friends. He'd thought he could be happy as long as both of his best friends were happy; he never thought that this could break him so painfully. He tried to look away from Sora and Kairi and look through other windows for different views of the ball. His eyes widened and he raised his head quickly, hands clamping down on the ice cold window sill. Was the light tricking him? No. The more he stared at it the more he was sure of what he was seeing. He shut the window and ran down the corridor, summoning the Way to Dawn pre-emptively. That guy should have been dead. DiZ and Naminé had both assured Riku that he was dead. How and why was he here now?


	49. Will You Trust Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zexion shows up, unexpected and uninvited, with a request.

The song ended and changed. It was still slow but this one was much more upbeat. Sora and Kairi exchanged glances and smiled at each other. Some couples retired and they were replaced by others but those two remained standing where they'd stopped.

"Do you want to dance to this song too?" Sora asked.

Kairi's smile widened and she was about to nod but another boy clearing his throat caught the attention of both of them. Sora looked at him in confusion. Kairi's eyebrows rose in recognition. Zexion had snuck up on them and was standing there with his hands behind his back, as though he was welcome to intrude. He was dressed formally in black trousers and oxford shoes, a black vest and a glossy, grey dress shirt that matched some of the darker streaks of his hair.

"Excuse me," he said politely, addressing both of them. "Would you mind if I had this next dance?" He extended a hand out to Kairi, gloved in black satin.

Sora was about to say something but Kairi cut him off: "No, not at all."

She looked at Sora apologetically and they let go of each other. Sora turned to Kairi and glanced at Zexion suspiciously through the corner of his eye. "Kairi, do you know this guy?"

"Yeah, he's a friend I met here," she answered, putting her hand in his open palm.

Zexion smirked at Sora's huffy expression. "Don't worry, I'm not here to steal her from you. I really am just a friend." Sora and Kairi both blushed at the implication that there was something more between them.

Sora still hesitated to leave, so Kairi said: "Have you eaten since you woke up, or did you come straight here? Maybe you should see if there's still food left at the buffet."

The spiky-haired boy nodded and left the two of them alone, casting a doubtful stare at the silver-haired boy for as long as he could. Sora was certain that they'd never met but something about him was familiar in a very off-putting kind of way. As soon as he'd disappeared into the crowd, Zexion turned to Kairi and put his free arm around her back, high up to reinforce his claim of a platonic relationship. Kairi's arm rested on top of his to complete the open position and this time Zexion took the lead. Kairi honestly had no idea what dance he was doing but he wasn't complaining so long as she didn't trip or step on his toes.

"I thought you weren't going to be here," Kairi said out of the blue.

"What led you to make that assumption?"

"The tickets… from the bakery. You didn't take them."

"That's not necessarily an indication that I had no means of attending this ball."

Kairi blushed again but this time with embarrassment. Zexion had a way of making others feel stupid, even if it wasn't intentional.

"Did you know that this song is famous?" he continued. Kairi shook her head. "I used to hear it played a lot when I was a child. This band's version has a ridiculously extended intro but I recognise the tune."

Kairi was puzzled about what he meant until the male vocalist returned to the microphone and began to sing:

_"Only you can make this world seem right.  
Only you can make the darkness bright."_

"Actually, I only came to the ball to see you," Zexion admitted.

"M-me?" Kairi said in surprise

"I can't stay long, I have to be somewhere quite soon but I came because I have a favour to ask you."

"A favour? What kind of favour?"

"You might be thinking that I have malicious intentions but I assure you that I don't want you to do anything bad," Zexion said in a low voice. "You're the only person that I can turn to now."

"Why me?" Kairi whispered.

"Because you trust me."

Kairi blinked. "Trust you? I… I don't think I do. I know what you are."

"And yet you still trusted me to save your friends and fight alongside you this morning," Zexion said, raising his visible eyebrow. "I suspect your trust may actually be delusional, since you were still calling me 'Z' the entire time. Would you like to prove me wrong?"

Kairi huffed but at the same time there was a stirring of distrust in her mind when a Nobody was directly asking her for a favour. Zexion read her like an open book and offered a further explanation: "My life is going to change at midnight tonight and I am certain that I'm unprepared for it. If anything were to go wrong you are the only person who has the power to save me. If you are willing then you need to make the decision now. Just dance with me while you consider it."

The brass solo began in the song. Kairi bowed her head, looking down at their feet, which were practically moving by themselves. She smiled a bit at the thought of the soft ballet slippers she was currently wearing. When it became obvious to Patty that Kairi wasn't going to manage in the shiny stilettos that she recommended with the outfit Mir pointed out that the soft shoes would be fine for the occasion. It's not like anyone would really see them under the floor-length hem of the white dress.

Zexion stayed quiet, allowing her to be with her own thoughts for a few minutes. He wanted to be saved. She had no idea what that meant but based on the scenario he proposed he was leaving the decision of what that meant up to her. The story he was telling obviously had most of the information omitted but was that because he was trying to hide it or because there were so many people around? Kairi couldn't tell. As the vocalist started singing again, Kairi looked up into Zexion's face. His eyes were also blue but not like hers or Sora's. His were dull and blank like a sheet of paper. He could see her gradually making up her mind.

At the end of the song he reached into his pocket and took something out, holding it tightly in his right hand. Then he took her left and placed it over his right, unfurling his fingers and pressing her hand into his palm. There was something smooth, round, and cold sitting there. Then, unexpectedly, he put his left arm behind his back, bowed deeply to Kairi and kissed the back of her hand. Her face went hot and red so fast it made her a bit dizzy.

"Thank-you for the dance," he said cordially, lifting his head to smile at her, "but I'm afraid that I must now take my leave. Fare thee well, princess."

He slid his hand away from hers. She got the message and curled her fingers around the orb. He nodded to her and briskly walked away, going back up the steps to exit the ballroom. Kairi held her clasped hand against her chest and watched him leave. She had no idea what he had just given her but she did know that it wasn't something that she could just uncover in front of a crowd. She made her way off the dance floor and found Sora standing by the buffet table with a plate of salad, rice and chicken. That must have been all that was left. He saw her coming back and smiled, swallowing a huge mouthful of poultry and lettuce before asking:

"So is he gone?"

Kairi gave him a strange look and Sora had the decency to put on sheepish expression. At least he realised what a rude question that was. She didn't bother to call him on it, though. She just nodded.

"Who was he anyway?"

"His name's Z," Kairi answered, looking down at her chest where her hand was still clenched around his gift. "I met him a couple of weeks ago when I was having trouble with ice skating. He's actually really nice if you get to know him."

"Really? I dunno. Something about him seemed weird to me," Sora said, shovelling more food into his mouth. Kairi just nodded, eyes downcast. Zexion wanted to be saved. From being a Nobody? Or was he in trouble? "Are you okay? Did he do something strange?"

Kairi shook her head and looked up with a fake smile. The doubtful look Sora gave her indicated it wasn't working. "No, I'm just feeling really tired now. I don't think I'll dance anymore, I want to go to bed."

"Are you su- hey! Kairi, wait!" Sora exclaimed, dropping his plate on the nearest table and running after Kairi as she dashed up the steps to the doors. "He did do something weird didn't he? What're you holding? Did he give it to you?"

"I told you, I'm fine. I just need some sleep."

She made it to the top and got to the doors, pushing them open in a rush to get through. As soon as she made it into the hallway she stopped in her tracks, staring dumbfounded at what was happening in front of her. Sora caught up to her, ready to question her more on her well-being but the scene in the hallway made him stop too. He'd thought there was something weird about Z and evidently Riku thought so too.


	50. One Cast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zexion VS the Keyblade wielders

Zexion cast one last glance at the ballroom over his shoulder before he left and closed the doors behind him. It was getting close to eleven o'clock and the volunteers were starting to pack up their table. The ball would probably go on for longer but no new attendees would be given access. He calmly walked around them, giving them a smile and a polite wave, which they responded to similarly, just as he predicted. He walked halfway down the hall, intending to open his portal once he got around the corner and out of sight. However, a tall boy in a blue, button-up shirt with a long-sleeved shirt underneath, black jeans and buckled leather boots charged down the corridor and skidded to a halt at the end of the hall. Zexion raised his eyebrow at the familiar weapon that had now apparently become a Keyblade and the recognisable face of its wielder.

"Riku," Zexion muttered. "It's been a long time."

"It couldn't ever be long enough," Riku spat back.

The Nobody smirked. "Perhaps not for you. I personally don't care either way."

"You're supposed to be dead. All of the Nobodies and their freak experiments were destroyed in the end."

Zexion tutted in a mocking way that he knew would irritate Riku. "As always, you're a few steps behind. I was never like others in the Organisation who were so absorbed in their memories of their old selves, developing such a profound sense of narcissism and egomania to the point that they became psychopaths. Due to my unresolved complexes and identity, I was never able to-"

"Shut up and die already!" Riku screamed, charging at Zexion wildly.

The volunteers paused their activity and stared in shock. Zexion smirked. Riku took hold of his Keyblade with two hands to stab Zexion right through. The Keyblade was about to hit its mark when suddenly Riku was aware of having stepped over an invisible magical threshold. A Reflectra shield appeared in the blink of an eye. Riku had a brief experience of vertigo when the shield suddenly flipped. The counter-strike activated and launched Riku backwards. He crashed into the half packed up table with enough force to break it in two.

"See, this is the problem with everybody," Zexion muttered with a shake of his head. "They simply don't have the patience. You can't keep a cool head long enough to form a solid strategy or two and you won't bother standing the lengthy amount of time it takes to let logic and discourse occur before deciding what your course of action will be. You didn't even consider that I may have some hidden trick tucked away somewhere before you charged, which I would have thought would be predictable, given that I am a master of illusions. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Because as long as you survive the Organisation can be rebuilt," Riku hissed, getting up again despite the pain in his back. "The worlds have already suffered enough at your hands by your creed."

"I assure you, the research goal of Organisation XIII is the only principle that I am determined to maintain. I won't begin another Organisation."

"That's something you would just say to try to stop me from fighting you," Riku growled, charging his Keyblade to cast Fira.

"Touché," Zexion said, summoning his Lexicon into his right hand. He doubled himself, causing Riku to hesitate with the spell. However, it was only for a moment. Riku chose one Zexion and fired. The target he aimed at cast Reflectra (or at least seemed to), throwing the power of the spell back at him. He nullified it with Blizzara.

Zexion doubled his images again and again until the hall was filled with them. They even appeared behind Riku. Then all of a sudden the doors to the ballroom opened, casting a line of gold into the hall like an inverse shadow. The two new arrivals froze and stared at the scene wide-eyed.

"Riku, what's going on?" Kairi asked, her eyes darting from one Zexion to the next. "Z?"

"Stay back, Kairi," Riku shouted, searching every clone for a clue as to which may be the original. "This guy is a member of Organisation XIII."

"He's what?!" Sora exclaimed, running forwards and summoning his Keyblade. He slashed through an image directly in front of him, which turned out to be an illusion. "How? Didn't we defeat all of them?"

"I'll admit I was defeated," Zexion said, the sound coming from behind Riku on his left. There was a flicker of movement from that direction as if one of the Zexion clones was trying to attack him. Riku turned on the ball of his foot and swung down on the image. It stared at him in shock and raised its Lexicon to block. The wing of Way to Dawn pierced through the book as if it weren't magic but just paper and cardboard. "But it's very hard – I'd say nigh impossible – to kill someone who makes a habit of making others do the fighting for him."

The illusion fizzled away and Zexion was no longer the person trembling behind the book. Riku's eyes widened. It was the male volunteer, holding up a very thick book. He gulped. Riku scowled, wrenched the Way to Dawn out of the book and turned around. The copies of Zexion had disappeared while he was distracted and a dark portal was closing at the other end of the hall. A Blizzaga spell zoomed past him but it was cast too late to get through the portal. It struck the wall and created a giant crystal of ice.

Sora cursed when his spell missed. The male volunteer's legs gave away and he slumped to his knees. His co-volunteer rushed over to his side to check on him. Kairi thought of doing the same thing but couldn't will her feet to move. Her mind was whirling with so many conflicting thoughts. Did she trust Zexion or didn't she? _Should_ she trust Zexion or not? Her heart was stinging with the twisted dagger that was betrayal digging deeper, trying to cut the resilient bond of trust that was holding her together. Zexion's trust. Despite what he had done and said before, she had still trusted Zexion and now Zexion trusted her too.

The man dropped the book on the floor when the woman helped him stand up. The cover was too mangled to read properly but the words were clear on the spine: _Psychoneuroimmunology for Beginners_ , the book she had been curious to read. She finally found the motivation to move and walked around the broken table to crouch beside the book. The tome was a little difficult to open but once the cover was pried off the pages Kairi could see that the inside cover had the library's stamp in the top left hand corner.

"Kairi!"

She looked up at the sound of her name. Sora had come up beside her and was looking worried. It seemed that he'd called her name more than once. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked her, crouching to her level. "You said he was your friend – I mean, clearly he was just pretending to be your friend for some reason. But he made you trust him, didn't he?"

"Maybe," Kairi said, shrugging noncommittally.

"What do you mean 'maybe'?"

Kairi held her left hand out in front of her, fingers still curled around the little orb. She slowly loosened her grasp until she could see the whole thing nestled in her palm. The edge of the spherical orb was blue but most of the mass was taken up by a swirling darkness. _"What the heck is this?"_ Kairi thought.

"Wait, did the Nobody give that to you?" Sora asked in horror, reaching for the orb but Kairi tried to snatch it out of reach. His hand knocked hers and it dropped onto the carpet next to the book. "Get rid of it! You don't know what it'll do to you!"

Riku turned to look at his friends and his gaze went down to the little dark orb. He narrowed his eyes. "We should destroy that thing immediately. Don't play right into his hands."

He approached them with Keyblade in hand, lifting it for a destructive strike. His step faltered when he saw the way Kairi looked at him: scared. Not scared of him but scared of what he was going to do. She pushed Sora over and summoned her own Keyblade. Riku dashed forward, seeing the determined look on her face. She wasn't about to destroy it. Kairi flipped her weapon to a reverse grip and brought the tip down on the orb, cracking it open and releasing the energy inside. The dark energy burst forth and engulfed her.

"Kairi!" Sora and Riku shouted. Sora jumped to his feet and leaped into the fully formed dark portal, followed closely by Riku. It collapsed quickly and disappeared, taking all three Destiny Islanders with it.


	51. Ice on the Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the dark portal takes them...

Kairi cracked one eye open. She didn't remember when she'd closed them but her face was now completely scrunched up with the effort of keeping them squeezed shut. The only thing she could see was white with a black and blue curve below her. She opened both eyes and looked straight down at her feet. The remnants of a dark portal with a blue ring surrounded them. The portal faded, leaving her ankle deep in fresh snow. She lifted her head. She was standing in the middle of a snowy meadow. In front of her the meadow sloped steeply upwards to an ominous, black tree line while behind her it gradually sloped down to a meandering frozen creek with woods on the other bank. Behind the sharp, black, snow-capped trees on the steep slope were craggy mountains and nestled between the grey stone was a stark white castle.

" _The orb must have been a portal,"_ she concluded in her head. The wind was blowing harshly, occasionally sending loose snowflakes on the ground spiralling up into the air, yet the harsh chill didn't affect her. _"Did he cast another spell? One that wards away the cold, maybe."_

There was a groan behind her. She looked over her shoulder. Riku and Sora were close by, sprawled on top of each other in the snow. They quickly untangled themselves and stood up, taking in the surroundings. Sora gawked confusedly at the new location but Riku had his eyes narrowed and a snarl on his lips.

"Where are we?" he snapped, but the question wasn't directed at anyone. "Did Zexion send us here to die or be out of the way or something? What's he up to?"

Sora looked at Kairi and she stared back. There was something odd in his expression that she couldn't place. He was trying to keep it blank but there were stirrings underneath the mask that were breaking through, although they were all still too well hidden to be deciphered. All except for one thing, a question that he was communicating with his eyes: "You know something, don't you?"

"I think he wanted us to help him," Kairi replied. Riku turned to her, his aggressive expression softened but he was still mad.

"And Organisation XIII wanted us to 'help' them create a fake Kingdom Hearts. Whenever a Nobody is up to something it never means anything good."

Kairi tore her eyes away from Sora and glared at Riku. "I don't know what your big problem is but the whole time I've been on this world Zexion hasn't tried to hurt me. He's just looking for his heart and maybe something's gone wrong and he needs help."

"He's probably just trying to steal your heart or at least your powers as a Princess of Heart," Riku argued. "He knows about you, Kairi. I've had far more experience with the Organisation and their subtler ways than you have. Treating you nice just to get you to use your powers on whatever crackpot scheme they have is something a shrewd member would do and Zexion is shrewder than all of them, probably even Xemnas. Trust me, Kairi." Riku's voice lowered and his face softened even further into an expression of worry. "I've seen firsthand in full detail what the Organisation has no qualms about doing to innocent people. We should try to find a way back to the castle and forget about Zexion, which won't be hard if he does end up getting killed."

"Axel was okay, though," Sora interjected, making Kairi and Riku stare at him.

"Axel?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, who was that?" said Kairi.

"Um, you know, the guy with the red hair? He used fire and said 'got it memorised' a lot?" Sora explained. His friends just looked at him in bemusement. "You don't remember?"

"You can't remember a Nobody once they're gone," Riku said. "All I remember is that the Organisation existed with a leader called Xemnas. A Nobody's identity disappears with it. If you remember him it means that he's probably not dead yet."

"Well, I hope not," Sora said, even though he knew better. "He was actually cool."

"And I think Z is c-"

"Zexion," Riku corrected.

Kairi huffed. "And I think _Zexion_ is cool too. I bet we're here because he wants us to go up to that castle." She pointed at the castle in the mountains.

"Then why didn't he just teleport us straight in there?" Sora wondered.

"It's probably dangerous. There's this ice-skating witch that he got involved with and I'm pretty sure that she's evil. Maybe she lives up there."

Riku sighed. "I still think it's a bad idea to do anything he wants you to do. You really aren't helping his case here."

"I don't think he's working directly with her. When we were fighting this morning she came to talk to us. She's the one who turned me into an Unversed yesterday and she might have done it again today if Zexion hadn't protected me from her."

"Yeah, Axel protected me too," Sora said. "That was how he died. Nobodies aren't all bad, Riku, it depends on who they used to be. I think if Zexion tried to protect Kairi then he wasn't a bad person when he had a heart. Besides, if anything bad happens, all three of us are together now. We're unstoppable against any evil!"

"I don't know," Kairi muttered, rolling her eyes dramatically, "you didn't last an awfully long time against Riku's Unversed." Riku snickered while Sora deadpanned.

"Yeah, well, it was Riku and his Unversed used a dirty trick. Plus, we were fighting on ice. I'm more prepared this time."

Riku let his shoulders drop and smiled. "Well, okay. We'll give Zexion a chance."

Kairi grinned. "I knew you guys wouldn't let me down. You're the best friends a girl could ask for. Now let's go!"

Kairi took off running up the steep slope of the field with Sora and Riku close behind her. _"Don't worry Zexion, I'm coming,"_ she whispered mentally, hoping that her heart would send the words or at least the sentiment to him somehow. _"This time I'll protect you."_


	52. Forge Him A Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Snow Queen's plans commence.

The Heart Crystals were arranged in a little circle directly underneath the lens. Giselle smiled but her heart was pounding in anticipation and disbelief. She stepped away from her simple arrangement and off the gazebo so that she could get a clear view of the night sky. The clouds had cleared completely by now, giving all below an unhindered view of the starry night sky stretching from horizon to horizon. She couldn't have hoped for better weather. Perhaps this was a signal that tonight would be a success. She waited patiently, unaware of the time but knowing that the event she was waiting for would be soon. Then, suddenly, there was a golden comet streaking across the sky. It was the first of many to come and yet she couldn't get excited just yet. There was one more piece to this puzzle that hadn't arrived.

Zexion.

She could complete her experiment with the lens but her project would not be complete without him. She sighed and crossed her arms. Zexion seemed to trust her less and less lately, or at least showed it more. Giselle suspected that it was all for Kairi. What was it about her that made him want her to trust him?

The cool sound of space tearing and warping made her smile. She looked over her shoulder at the dark portal that had appeared right behind her. Zexion stepped out dressed in smart clothes but not warmly. He must have acquired a cast of some sort of cold resistance charm. Giselle raised her arms and pulled her heels together. Then rose onto pointe to do a half turn. Once she was facing him she tightened her stance and did a plié to start a short series of pirouettes to meet him. Zexion caught her by the waist and she let her arms drop to rest on his shoulders.

"If you're showing off now I assume that means that you have finished your preparations," he said. He let go of her and stepped back, summoning his large tome weapon between them before she could step in and close the gap again. He thumbed through the pages until he found the right one and procured four large red and blue marbles. Two little lights inside the marbles were circling each other futilely like a dog chasing its own tail. "I had the magic casts you required synthesised. However, I believe Magnega probably won't be powerful enough to draw in the requisite mass and energy needed to facilitate the reactions you're hoping for. Magengun is the lowest I can recommend. The Moogles were very suspicious of one person requesting four Magnegun casts at once, you know, but I'm afraid that even the field of a Magnega quadrupled will only have a weak influence on elements that high up in the atmosphere, not to mention that the higher levels of incoming gamma, infrared, and cosmic radiation that have not yet been reflected by the denser lower layers of the atmosphere will interfere with the field."

Giselle glared at the Magnegun casts with narrowed eyes. "But won't that be noticed?"

"It will," Zexion nodded. "The field will be so powerful that it will attract large amounts of energy quickly and since it will all be convening at a singularity point somewhere in the beneath centre of the lens, the compression will probably cause a lot of light to be emitted as lost energy in the process. In this situation, success takes priority over stealth."

The Snow Queen smirked and snatched the Magnegun casts from Zexion's hands, holding them between her fingers. "And here I thought you were the ever cautious one."

"Caution and vigilance are not to be confused. I was simply not willing to begin a procedure with limited knowledge in the field. I still don't have all of the research warranted to undertake such an enormous endeavour so I'm simply going to have to trust you. I don't understand why it had to be tonight specifically, either. There are other astronomical events in the near future which would sufficiently power the lens a-"

Giselle huffed and stayed huffy throughout Zexion's rambling. In frustration she quickly formulated a plan to shut him up. She boureéd as close to him as she could get and stood on the points of her toes, leaning forward to place a kiss on his lips. Zexion lifted his book between their faces and she ended up kissing the back cover.

"As aesthetically pleasing as your appearance is, I am not romantically inclined towards you. At least not yet." He looked up. Two golden streaks flew across the sky. "The stardust meteors are coming in earnest. Such a magnificent phenomenon, don't you think? The 'stardust' is actually highly charged protons that have become so energised that they bonded with other elements and even some solid particles, which naturally excites the electrons of those elements further and creates force fields that propel the bonded pairs into a new direction. Along the way they end up colliding with other similar pairs in the nebula they were born in and they stick together, accumulating mass and energy but never bonding tightly enough to become solid; a kind of plasmatic state, which is why they don't burn up in the atmosphere, at least not at the rate that a solid meteor or asteroid will. They do steadily lose energy as they travel but the energy loss increases in the atmosphere with greater friction than in sp-"

"I'll set up the Magengun field now," Giselle interrupted. Her cheeks were blown up in a huffy pout, which she tried to compose as she stepped away from him. _"Still more interested in science. I'll change that soon."_

She turned around and threw the first cast up to the top of the gazebo, where it bounced on the edge of the roof and exploded into a big, yellow ball with two smaller orbs, one red and one blue, circling it widely. She travelled around the gazebo with her twirling dance moves, activating another cast at a quarter of the circumference's distance until they had all been activated. Upon returning to where she started she paused. She raised one hand slowly, magically manipulating the Magnegun field and finally giving it a target for it to draw in. The next meteor that crossed the sky was angled off course and hurtled down towards Giselle's garden. It spiralled tighter and tighter as it got closer and closer to the Magnegun fields and collided with the lens with a golden splash as if it were a raindrop crashing to earth.

The lens turned gold with the magic it soaked up from the stardust meteor and a column of light shone straight down to the floor. The light in the middle was sharper than that at the edge, focussing the energy on the Heart Crystals. The crystals rose and danced around each other like dandelion seeds being picked up by the wind. They swirled within the sharp light at the centre and slowly dropped back to the floor as the light dimmed and the magic started to fade. The crystals settled in a more haphazard circle than the one they were placed in. Giselle sighed with disappointment.

"It wasn't enough… and it faded so fast."

"Never mind. There will be more stardust meteors following," Zexion said, looking up at the sky as if to search for them. "This is quite a large cluster, propelled by a supernova that was observed on this world roughly one hundred years ago. I would know, I've had the opportunity to observe it in the past few days." Two more meteors slashed the sky, bending when they crossed the threshold of the Magnegun field but failing to be sucked in, shooting off on their merry way. "Those two were probably too high up and too fast. Have patience."

Zexion put a hand to his chin and sauntered up to the gazebo, taking one step up to the platform but no closer. He could already see from that distance what Giselle couldn't see due to some rather obvious holes in her knowledge, evidence of how little she had researched. The Heart Crystals had already picked up a faint internal glow, storing what little energy they had absorbed from the first strike. They had the sweet smell of light wafting off them. Suddenly it was pierced with a sharper, sweeter scent, accompanied by something sweet-salty and bittersweet. That was unexpected but he wouldn't let it show on his face – easy enough without emotions. He thought she would come alone.

"There are people coming," he said bluntly, making Giselle gasp.

"Coming? Here? Are they trying to stop us?"

"Probably."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Giselle growled, turning around and running back into her castle, turning back only briefly to check on the sky. It was blank for now, save for the usual starscape. She clenched a fist and pumped it in frustration, scurrying into the castle and closing the doors to her garden. She stayed there for a moment, facing the doors with her hands still on the cold ice and her head down, staring at the edge of her tutu. When she lifted her head she could still see the black and grey form that was Zexion amongst the white and dark green, and she muttered melodically to herself:

_"Every night I am startled awake_   
_By the thought of how much is at stake._   
_In my nightmares my goal will always fail."_

She pulled away from the door and went right, hurrying towards a spiralling staircase. She took the steps one-by-one but at a rushed pace to get to the next floor.

_"As of late it's beginning to seem_   
_That that scene is much more than a dream_   
_But still I must believe I can prevail."_

Golden light suddenly burst through the windows as she ran down the corridor. She paused and leaned out of a glassless window. The meteor shower had now properly begun. A barrage of bright streaks crossed the sky, several getting caught in the Magnegun field and spiralling down to splash into the lens. Giselle smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

_"Here come the falling stars._   
_It's their light that I've searched so far_   
_For the power to make this great romance."_

She turned, satisfied with her progress and continued on her way to her throne room, already with a good guess as to who would be so bold and have any motivation to try to stop her.

_"And whatever the Princess feels_   
_Doesn't matter 'cause I can feel_   
_That the moment is close, I am taking my chance."_

At the balcony above the garden she paused. The door was left open and this was a far more magnificent vantage point than the thin, gothic windows. She leaned over the balustrade, watching the lens and the magnets work their magic with a grin that she couldn't hold back.

_"Starlight, star bright, hear out my wish tonight;_   
_Deal me a favoured hand._   
_Grant my wish with your shining magnificence_   
_On this night so grand."_

But it wouldn't come to true if Kairi managed to get there. Giselle turned away from the garden and made her way to the throne room. The mirror came to life automatically, showing Kairi making her way up the slope of the mountain, still under the cover of the forest, with two boys. Giselle raised her eyebrows, somewhat impressed that they were able to recover from the morning's events so quickly but they were just as much of a nuisance as Kairi, if not more. If Kairi was bringing such powerful friends with her then there was no doubt that she was planning to ruin Giselle's scheme.

_"Here she comes through the forest of snow_   
_Trying to foil my plans, I know._   
_She would take what I've earned, is rightfully mine."_

Giselle placed a hand against the glass of the mirror, sending all of her violent, angry thoughts to the current location of Kairi's party. The snow all around them began to move menacingly.

_"Minions! Away you go!_   
_If you can't stop her make her slow._   
_She could make it quite soon but don't give her the time."_

With a swipe of her hand the image was gone and replaced with the view of her garden, checking the progress of the Heart Crystals. The light focussed by the lens was so bright, almost too bright to stare at directly. There was no way to see what was behind that veil of brilliance. Giselle grinned. That was perfect, just what she needed to see.

_"Starlight, star bright, hear out my wish tonight;_   
_Forge him a new heart._   
_Bless me with your grace and your brilliance._   
_Now it's time to start._

_"Starlight, star bright, hear my wish tonight;  
Forge him a new heart." _

Her mirror's view turned, as if it was actually there at the scene, to find Zexion. He'd stepped right back to the doors with his eyes squinted and one arm raised partway, ready to shield his eyes further if need be. Giselle placed both hands on the mirror, splayed flat and put Zexion's face in the diamond-shaped space between her index fingers and thumbs.

_"Burn away his torment and emptiness  
Finally my vengeance will start." _

She shut off her mirror with a triumphant grin and a bounce in her step as she waltzed to the edge of the mirror's podium. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she did a pirouette and continued to waltz across her throne room. It seemed that there was no way she could lose now. Kairi wouldn't be able to stop her and if she did make it to the castle, she would be well within the Snow Queen's domain. Giselle concluded her waltz with a plié and held her plié. She knew for certain that Zexion's new heart would have no trouble standing by and letting the Princess of Heart die at her hands.


	53. Abominable Snowman Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi, Sora, and Riku encounter the first of many obstacles to the Snow Queen's lair.

It was eerily silent in the forest, save for the crunching of ice under the footsteps of three Keyblade Wielders. The snow was shallower since most of it had gotten stuck on the branches and spines of the dark green pine trees that grew tall trunks and branched out over them. The slope was steep but manageable. They'd lost sight of the castle the moment they got close to the forest edge – the trees were too tall and too close together to see beyond – so they simply kept trekking upwards to see if that would at least get them somewhere.

Sora charged ahead, raring to go on what he was probably seeing as a mini-adventure. He had summoned his Keyblade a while back and kept on the lookout for any enemies approaching, Heartless or otherwise. Riku and Kairi followed his lead and tried to keep up. The quiet in the forest gave Kairi chills that vibrated from her heart to the tips of her fingers and toes. She anxiously wondered if Riku was right and this was all a bad idea. She glanced at him subtly. He stayed beside her, keeping a measured pace and keeping an eye on Sora. She looked away to join him in scouting for any signs of trouble that Sora missed.

"You're starting to regret this, aren't you?" Riku piped up, staring at her out of the corner of his eye. "Even just a little?"

"I guess I'm not sure," Kairi replied cryptically. Riku faced her properly with a confused expression. "I mean, I'm starting to wonder if we're walking into a trap of sorts. Maybe it's because it's too quiet. I'm getting a weird feeling."

"Try not to get too edgy, it won't help. You said you trusted Zexion, didn't you?"

Kairi nodded.

"Then believe that he'll try his best to look after you too. He did anticipate that you would need some protection if you followed him here." He tugged on the short, pink sleeve of Kairi's dress. She stared at that spot in puzzlement for a moment before catching on. He meant the charm.

Kairi almost slipped when something moved under her feet. She looked down quickly, thinking she'd stepped on a creature sleeping under the snow but there was nothing there, just hard, dark brown earth, almost black in colour. The snow around them shifted and moved, gathering into piles. Even the snow on the tree branches was sliding off to add to the mounds that were starting to mould themselves into something snowman-shaped. Riku and Kairi summoned their Keyblades. The snowmen were now taller than the average human, slightly taller than even Riku. They sprouted long, sharp branch arms and a jagged mouth with beady little eyes and shuffled across the loamy soil to circle Kairi and Riku.

A snowman lashed out. Riku slashed at its outstretched arm, snapping it. It kept pressing forward, using the sharper edge of its broken arm as a lance. Riku ducked under it and rolled out of the way when the other arm swung down to scratch him.

Kairi blocked an attack from a close snowman. The snowman got its twiggy fingers stuck in the teeth of the Keyblade. It got a grip on the weapon and tried to pull it out of her grasp. Kairi pulled back and down, ripping the arm off the snowman from the shoulder. She parried the other arm with a strike and grabbed it by the wrist, driving the Keyblade into the snowman's head. She twisted her weapon and ripped it out of the big ball of snow, pulling it off the body. The snow head lost its animation and slumped to the ground but the body was still mindless shuffling onward. Another snowman was suddenly upon the heap, scooping up the snow before the spark of magic left it and shovelling it into its mouth.

Riku kicked his adversary in the middle snowball, pushing it out of the ensemble to crash and collapse on the floor. The head dropped onto the bottom snowball and the snowman kept shuffling. Again, the snowman coming up beside it rushed to cannibalise the discarded portion of its ally. Riku shoved the teeth of Way to Dawn into the bottom ball and cast Fira. The half-snowman exploded and a fireball from the spell shot out and obliterated the one beside it. Two more advancing snowmen abandoned their goal to feed on the fresh piles of snow before they melted away completely.

Kairi dodged to the side as the headless snowman threw itself at her in an attempt to body slam her. She unwittingly put herself in range of another snowman that reached out to grab her with both hands. She leaned back to get out of the way and swiped at it with her Keyblade but lost her balance on the steep slope. Her strike missed and she tumbled backwards, doing a full somersault before her back met the cold, wet body of a snowman advancing from the back. She looked up and the snowman looked down. All of a sudden its head exploded.

"Kairi! Get out of the way!" Sora screamed.

Kairi rolled to the side just as Sora came tearing through the air like a bullet and delivered a brutal upper slash that ripped what was left of that snowman in two. Another snowman – larger than it had been at the beginning – rushed in on him with its arms raised, ready to claw down on him. Sora saw it out of the corner of his eye and jumped to reach the perfect height for a horizontal slash that knocked off its head and snapped both arms. Riku slashed through another snowman with the Keyblade in his right hand, while his left cast another Fire spell that destroyed a second advancing on his left. A snowman towered over him. His eyes widened as they quickly travelled up the height of this monster.

Kairi got to her feet and looked around her. The last of the normal sized snowmen was shuffling up behind her. She widened her stance and pulled her Keyblade back, swinging it like a bat to slug the snowman in the middle. It hit but not before the snowman could lash out with sharp fingers and tear three shallow cuts on Kairi's upper arm. She hissed but ignored it to follow through. The middle snowball crumbled with the impact. The head dropped onto the bottom ball. Kairi kicked it off before it could get moving again and gave the bottom ball a few good stomps to dismantle it.

The shadow of a large snowman loomed over her. She whirled around and danced backwards, holding Destiny's Embrace up to block if needed. The snowman ignored her for now, going for the remains of its fallen friend instead. It picked up all of the snow and the branch arms, devouring them quickly. Its body expanded and the added branch arms sprouted out of its middle, joining many other extra limbs in varying degrees of wholeness. Some were merely splintered stubs and others were broken halfway. The broken-off halves had also been incorporated into the body. On the head, the eyes it had taken from its fallen comrades were added to its face.

There were three snowmen left. All them were at least triple their original size. Sora and Riku retreated and stood back-to-back in the middle of the three snowmen. Kairi stumbled into them, facing the snowman in front of her.

"This is awesome!" Sora exclaimed with a broad smile. "Please tell me I'm actually fighting abominable snowmen. Because if I am, I have now seen everything."

"Now isn't the time to be impressed with yourself, Sora," Riku scolded. "They keep getting bigger. I'm wondering if it's better to just keep hacking them down and wait until there's only one huge one left that we can beat down or if we should try to do something big to take care of all three of these guys at once."

"Option two," Kairi decided. Sora and Riku looked at her urging her to continue with their eyes. "It'll just be faster."

"What about the ice witch?" Sora asked. "If we use up too much of our magic and strength reserves now will we be able to take her on?"

"Last time I fought her she was pretty much on par with me, strength-wise," Kairi said.

"So not that powerful, then?"

"Hey!" Kairi huffed at Sora. "Her magic is super powerful. You'll have to be prepared for that."

"If that's the case I'd rather go with option one," Riku said, pressing against Sora's and Kairi's backs tighter as the snowmen shuffled closer. "Only it'd probably tire us out more."

"We need to choose quickly!" Sora reminded him.

Kairi felt a nudge of magic from her pendant. She looked down to see if it was glowing again but it remained dull. It couldn't communicate to her with words but it put words in her head, reminding and coaxing her to do something. _"I've felt powerful magic come from this pendant,"_ she thought. _"Someone cast a spell on it for me but I think most of the magic is already used up. I remember the feeling of the magic it used. Maybe if I can recall that feeling I can force it out again?"_

Destiny's Embrace rattled in her hands like it was agreeing with her thoughts and pledging support. Kairi turned the Keyblade around and held it firmly with both hands. She shoved the end onto the ground as a support while she concentrated on bringing out the magic her pendant had shown her. "Sora, Riku, do something big, anything. I'll do what I can to support it."

"Are you sure?" Sora asked.

"Yes! Just do it!"

Sora and Riku exchanged a quick glance and clasped their free hands together briefly, exchanging energy before they both took a two-handed grip on their Keyblade handles and summoned their Last Sabres. They took off, each taking on one of the larger snowmen first and knocking them back with a barrage of stabs. They were in and out in seconds, planting a foot on their snowman's face and kicking off before it could reach up to swat or grab them and leaping onto the third. They bore directly down on it and demolished the head. The other two excitedly lumbered towards the magic snow. Sora and Riku charged their Keyblades with extra magic, extending their reach; a golden blade for Sora and a glowing blue one for Riku. They leaped into the air, grabbed each other's wrists in a mutual monkey grip and swung each other around to get the momentum, maintaining the airtime with Glide. The magic blades slashed through snow, trees and rocks. All of the snowmen were in at least four pieces but the heads were still gnashing.

Kairi's body was engulfed with a bright, white aura. She'd called up the light magic. Beads of sweat were gathering on her forehead as she concentrated on weaving the magic into a form that was useful. It knitted tightly into a ball at her core. Then it erupted suddenly. Kairi let it burst out and engulf their little battlefield. The white aura surrounded Sora and Riku as they pointed their Keyblades skywards to summon the last part of their attack. Thirteen silver swords manifested above them and swung down, arcing around their summoners and mowing down anything in their way. The swords circled them like a moving wheel, mashing the snowmen into piles of snow. And for good measure, Sora and Riku both cast Fire, amplified tenfold by the white aura. It took the form of several concentric rings around them, tilting and moving. It melted snow in the blink of an eye and torched the normally hardy pine trees, and then it swallowed itself. The immediate landscape was left charred and boggy.

Sora and Riku landed with a squelch and a splat on the now muddy earth. The white aura faded from all three Keyblade wielders. Kairi stared off in space, panting hard as she tried to contain her disbelief at what she had just managed to do. The boys' Keyblades disappeared in a flash.

"Whoa…" Sora muttered, taking in the damage they'd done with wide eyes. "That was pretty amazing… and I don't even feel like I exerted myself doing it."

"Kairi was lending her magic," Riku explained, turning straight to the girl and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, dismissing her Keyblade. The spell left her a little drained but she still had the energy to move on. Anyway, even if her magic stores were more compromised after that spell (she had no idea exactly what she just cast), it wasn't like she knew any other spells. "Let's keep going. The snowmen are the ice witch's specialty, so if she's sending them down that probably means that we're on the right path."

Sora put an arm around her shoulders. "Are you sure? You look kind of tired."

"Don't coddle me!" Kairi snapped, stepping away from Sora and Riku's touches and crossing her arms. "I said I'm fine. That spell probably used more thinking power than any other kind of power."

"Well, would you at least let one of us cast Cure on you?"

"What for?"

"You got injured." Sora pointed to her left arm. She looked. The blood from the scratches was pouring down her arm, making a large patch of red on her white sleeve. Now that she was paying attention to it, it really hurt. The flesh pulsed and was hot to the touch. She didn't even get to voice her permission before she saw the green and gold glow and floating leaves of a Cure spell working its magic. She stared at Sora and Riku. They were both smiling at her, not giving away the culprit.

"We're wasting time, you know," Riku said, nodding his head towards the upward slope.

Kairi smiled back. The three of them continued the hike up the side of the mountain, looking for the castle.


	54. Zexion's New Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio try as they might to get there in time but it seems that they're too late.

The first sign of the castle the trio found was a paved footpath. It seemed completely random out in the middle of the forest and stopped so abruptly at what looked like a large clearing with a snowy floor. However, considering the slight dip and the way the some of the trees around the edge leaned over it, it was actually a frozen pond. The path wound upwards scenically through the forest, passing some delightful sights like animal burrows, thickets where deer and birds might gather, and followed a stream with a small waterfall for a while before it emerged from the forest. The slope was suddenly much steeper and the footpath became a stairway, leading up to the entrance of a large, white castle. The building snuggled into the mountainside and the snow white appearance took on an iridescent quality against the dark grey rocks. Somewhere behind the castle a tornado of golden light was bearing down from the sky, capturing golden comets as they streaked across the night.

"A meteor shower?" Sora wondered, looking up at the night sky. "Why are they being sucked into the castle?"

"Seems bad," Riku muttered. "I guess you were right about Zexion needing our help." He looked at Kairi. She was staring at the meteors but nodded to show that she'd heard.

The last barrier between them and the castle was the giant wall and the gate. The gate was stone weaved into Celtic patterns with snakes threaded through them and the gaps between the stone were filled with solid ice. It was closed with a giant metal padlock and chains that were bolted to the gate frame. Sora charged his Keyblade. Yellow stars swirled around it and concentrated into a dense ball of energy at the tip. He swiped and spun it in a practised ritualistic manner and then pointed it at the lock. A thin beam of magic shot from the Keyblade into the keyhole and with a burst of light and glitter the lock began to glow. When the light faded there was the loud, distinct _click_ of a large mechanism being turned and the chains on one side of the padlock disconnected with a _clang_. They fell to the side and rattled as a deep creaking started up. The wall around the castle shuddered and the ground vibrated so hard that it rattled the bones of the three heroes. The huge gate began to open.

Behind the gate was not the clear path they'd been hoping for. Two ice guardians kneeled in the gateway. Both of them held a poleaxe in one hand and had the other arm resting across their knee. They were dressed head to toe in armour, save for their jaws since the enormous overbite and tusks on the chin made it impossible to plate them. They had no lips and large, sharp teeth at least as long as Riku's forearm jutted out of the ice flesh. They remained inanimate, despite the fact that the gate they guarded was pulling open in front of them.

"Let's go, quickly," Kairi said, grabbing Sora and Riku by the arms and pulling them along. "We should get past them before they move or something. They'll probably move, right?"

The boys nodded and followed Kairi running up to the gate. There was enough room between the guardians to make it past them. With a loud _BANG_ the gates stopped, having reached the limit of their hinges. Two round, red lights flashed in the visors of the armour and the guardians suddenly rose to their feet, swinging their weapons down. Kairi skidded to a halt. Sora and Riku did the same right behind her. The blades cut through the stone and made large cracks beneath their feet but narrowly missed. The guardians lifted their weapons and held them at the ready. Kairi was about to summon her Keyblade but the boys beat her to it and took up battle stances about a foot in front of her.

"Leave these guys to us, Kairi," Sora announced.

"Hey! I'm strong enough to help!"

"We know," Sora replied.

"We just thought you might want a head start to Zexion and the ice witch," Riku added.

They took off running. The poleaxes swung down again. Sora and Riku split off in opposite directions. The axe blades cracked the stone and shook the ground.

"Okay but before you get too serious, do me a favour first!" Kairi shouted. They both turned to her with quizzical expressions. She pointed at the grand castle doors beyond the guardians. They were tall, even taller than the gate, and made of solid, hinge-less ice. "The entrance is blocked."

The ice guards pulled their axes out of the ground and turned them, swiping sideways at Sora and Riku. The boys leaped onto the blades as they whizzed past. They ran up the hafts of the weapons, charging up a huge fireball on their Keyblades. The guardians took one hand off their weapon to grab the Keyblade wielders. The boys leaped onto the fingers and from there jumped higher, up to the eye level of the guards. They pointed their charged Firaga spells at the helmets, aimed directly between the glowing red eyes. The guards turned their heads out of the way as the fireballs were let loose. They flew over the giant shoulders and obliterated the ice doors in a blast of steam, water and ice shards.

Kairi ran towards the open entrance. The guardians noticed her moving and took full hold of their poleaxes, lifting them and stabbing down at the girl with the daggers at the tip of their weapons. Kairi pressed forward and leaped into a dodge roll. The daggers bore down so fast that one of them managed to catch on the side of her dress and ripped away a large chunk of material. The ground shuddered so violently that Kairi stumbled while coming out of the roll and fell flat on her face. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted down the paved stone road leading up to the door.

Sora and Riku slid forward in mid-air and latched onto the helmets with one foot propped on the guardians' jaws and the other wedged into the visors. They slipped the heads of their Keyblades into the slits of the visors and blasted the guards with Firaga. The guardians reeled. Their heads whipped back and they lost balance, blinded by the steam and smoke filling up their helmets. The boys jumped off the helmets into their air above, building up some momentum with somersaults before charging down again with their weapons poised to attack. The Keyblades met the helmets with a loud, sharp _CLANG_. The impact rammed the guardians down into the ground, pushing up cracked stone and ice.

Sora and Riku leaped off them and landed in a crouch inside the castle walls. They looked up. Kairi was already clambering over the melting ice rubble of the doors. Sora and Riku exchanged glances and smiled. Behind them was the piercing squeal of plates of metal grinding against each other. The guardians got back to their feet and turned around, marching up to Sora and Riku, with their poleaxes raised for another attack. The boys' eyes darted from the guardians to each other and their smiles morphed into smirks. They got back into battle stances and faced their adversaries, challenging the guardians to get past them.

* * *

Inside there were no other barriers. Kairi ran from the entrance hall straight into a large hypostyle hall with long clerestory windows that cast the golden light of the meteors across carved griffins, chimeras and spiked crystal chandeliers in an ice ceiling. Behind the columns on either side of her were long stairways spanning the entire length of the hall cast into darkness by the shadows of the columns. There was a blue and white carpet leading up to a smaller doorway at the end of the hall. It was soft but crunched underfoot like loose snow as Kairi walked slowly down the room. It was tall and wide enough to be intimidating but bare save for the detail of the ceiling. Her heart pounded as her head reminded her over and over again that she was inside the abode of the Snow Queen. A _boom_ and small quake reminded her that the guardians being held off by Sora and Riku were not far behind. She quickened her step to the end of the hall.

A doorway was the threshold into a small dome-shaped room with no windows. On the other side was a similar doorway that took Kairi up a staircase into a smaller corridor, stretching for a long way to spiral staircases on both her left and her right. Thin windows along the corridor were spilling strong beams of gold light inside. Directly in front of her was a double door. Kairi gulped and took slow steps towards it, placing one hand over her heart to try to quell the furious beating. She forced her hand away from her chest to reach out to the handle of one door. She put her other hand on the second handle, turned both of them at once and pulled.

She was bathed in a harsh wave of light that momentarily left her blinded. The light subsided so that the garden she had entered was no longer completely flooded with it. The tornado feeding meteors into the gazebo at the centre bulged and then erupted into a straight beam of light so hot that the gold became white and snow and ice all over the garden began to thaw. The flowers at the edges of the beds, so starved of warmth for so long, reacted instantly, blooming faster than any Kairi had ever seen before. Heat was nothing to a girl who grew up on a tropical island, so she stepped out into the garden with one hand shading her eyes and made her way to the gazebo.

There must have been something in the roof of the structure that Kairi couldn't see; it was focussing golden light into a cylindrical beam shining down to the floor. In the radiance of that beam was the shadow of Zexion, looking exactly as he had when he met her at the ball. He braved the light to stand at the edge of the gazebo and watched. In the stronger light at the centre were seven coloured, glimmering lights bouncing up and down and whirling around each other. The green and blue lights collided with each other genlty. Yet there was such a sudden burst of light, a loud crack of electricity, and a shockwave that almost knocked Kairi and Zexion off their feet. More crackling and booming followed as each shining gem collided, creating a light so bright that it could still be seen through closed eyelids. Kairi covered her eyes with both arms and dropped to her knees to resist the huge gust emanating from the fusion of the jewels.

A final burst of light, heat and wind and then there was stillness. Kairi parted her arms to see. The beam of light from the top of the gazebo was still shooting golden-white energy back into the sky like a spotlight but the column of light beneath the roof had softened to a mere glow. Floating in the midst of that column was an orb with a brighter glow of white-gold, twinkling like a star. It was beautiful. Kairi was sure she'd never seen anything like it but it felt familiar as if she knew what it was but couldn't remember what it was called. Zexion climbed the steps of the gazebo and circled the orb as if he was in wonder. Kairi put her arms down and lifted herself back onto her feet. She walked cautiously up to the structure in the garden marvelling at it until she got within three metres of it. There was a little pulse – just a flicker – that made her heart jump with fear.

Zexion stopped behind the orb, staring at it as though he was in a trance. Then suddenly his gaze flickered up to look directly at Kairi. He smiled at her, hollow and empty as ever.

"Kairi," he said in a voice so low that it almost didn't reach her. She came closer, stopping only a few paces away from the first step, so that she could hear him better. "Whatever happens from this moment on is when I need you the most."

Finally, Kairi found her voice. "Z, wait!"

Zexion stepped forward and the bright orb was swallowed into his chest.


	55. Blacker Than Sin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not quite right...

The light became intense again. The orb could still be seen shining through Zexion's chest. Under the column of light Zexion's broken chains were revealed, twisting and writhing like panicked snakes. A black rust began to cover them, starting from their roots at the centre of his chest and spreading down to the ends. The corroded chains crumbled pitifully into dust. Kairi stared at the light in Zexion's chest, squinting her eyes at the brightness of it. It quickly subsided, as did the magic of the Magnegun field. The golden beam shining up into the sky dissolved and the meteor shower continued unimpeded, however, the column of light beneath the lens lingered just a little longer, keeping Zexion in its gentle embrace.

The first thing he saw was her. Kairi lifted her eyes a little and they locked with his. He was still smiling but something was wrong here. No longer was it empty but filled with malice and darkness. He stepped out of the fading light and lazily sauntered down the steps towards her. Kairi took a step back and summoned her Keyblade, raising it in a defensive position that was directed at him. Zexion's eyes widened in surprise but with a smirk on his face that exposed his insincerity as he took a step back and spread his arms, lifting his hands a bit in mock surrender.

"Kairi, please," he said evenly, keeping that malevolent eye on her, "I thought you'd be happy to see me whole again."

"I know I am."

Kairi looked over her shoulder at the little balcony over the door but kept her Keyblade pointed at Zexion. The Snow Queen was up there with one elbow propped on the balustrade and the other arm lying beside it. Her chin rested in the palm of her hand as she stared down her nose at Kairi, smirking all the while. She stepped onto the balustrade and then danced out onto thin air. She began to fall but only gently like a falling feather and pirouetted until she reached the ground.

"Great! I'm so glad that someone appreciates this staggering success." Zexion chuckled darkly.

Kairi looked from Giselle to Zexion several times before turning to be side-on to both of them and pointing her Keyblade straight at the Snow Queen. "This is your doing, isn't it?"

Giselle placed a hand delicately over her chest and her jaw dropped in a scandalised expression but the pretence disappeared quickly. She folded her arms and smirked. "What's the matter, _your highness_? Are you upset that he didn't turn out the way _you_ wanted him to?"

"No, this isn't right." Kairi shook her head. "That's not a real heart made of real feelings."

This time Giselle really was offended when her face contorted into a scowl. "How dare you accuse my emotions of being false!"

"I would have to agree," Zexion said. Kairi and Giselle both turned to him. "I wasn't entirely sure as a Nobody but it seems one of my principle theories about the Unversed was correct. Emotions of such intensity can't simply wander around the atmosphere as free magic. They're manipulated from a similar point of origin, however, I couldn't prove that without the tools to trace that origin. Not to mention the binding energy required to form an Unversed, even if you were attaching it to a different heart rather than building them from scratch. It all points to the existence of a single mastermind behind the Unversed attacks, who is also my generous patron in this experiment." He put a hand over his new heart and bowed mockingly.

"Wait," Kairi said, brow creased in confusion. "That doesn't sound like-"

"That doesn't sound like the explanation I initially gave you because I lied. You really wanted to stick up for the two morons who were weak enough to fall privy to dark magic for reasons that I still can't even begin to fathom and I had no better explanation to give to the royal guard at the time. I knew it was absolutely incorrect and if anyone had had any sort of scientific understanding someone would have noticed that right away. What did I call it again? Something really stupid and ridiculous, I remember. Oh, that's right. _Tenebranegenic metacrisis_." Zexion suddenly burst into peals of raucous laughter as if that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "Really! How does one even get to thinking that that could even be a legitimate scientific theory? How can people be such fools?" He put his hand on his belly as he started to wheeze. "You idiots are just too funny. I haven't felt this way in years – nay, I haven't felt at all."

Kairi lowered her Keyblade and turned her back on Giselle. That cold flicker she'd seen before the heart amalgamated itself with Zexion's being was a core of darkness. But what she couldn't tell was whether this was all right or not; if this is what Zexion was really searching for the entire time. She walked slowly towards him with her eyebrows slanted in pity. "Z… what do you actually feel?"

"I feel enough," he snapped, glaring at her. "This is more than I ever thought I would ever feel again. To be honest, I had given up thinking it was possible. You are partially responsible for this transformation. Your light magic is more powerful than I had imagined and resulted in some very high quality ingredients for the experiment. Say, as a sign of gratitude among other things, why don't you come with me?"

Kairi stopped only a few paces away from him. "Where would you go? What would you do with a heart like that?"

"I will go where I please and do as I wish. I may even crown myself king. Actually, that is a splendid idea." He leered at Kairi and began to close the distance between them slowly. "And it would bring me great pleasure if you would be my queen, Princess."

"What?! No!" Giselle shrieked, balling her hands into fists in front of her. "I was meant to be your queen!"

"Shut up!" Zexion growled.

Kairi took a step back but hesitated too much, torn between retreating and facing whatever menace had taken over Zexion. He noticed her step and shot her a sharp glare. She hurried to turn away but he'd already taken three long, fast steps and almost came flush up against her. She took a bigger back-step and lifted her Keyblade again with her expression suddenly morphing into one of determination. Zexion dodged a stab aimed at him and grabbed her wrist so tightly it was painful. His other hand darted out quickly to grab her by the throat, just under the jaw. His grip there was painfully tight too. She grabbed his wrist with her free hand and tried to pry him off. He forced her to look him in the eyes.

"I dare you to try and refuse me," he hissed with his hot breath in her face. "We would be such an excellent team, you and I."

Kairi clenched her teeth. She pulled away from him as far as she could and kicked him in the shin. He grunted. The split-second of pain-loosened grip was enough for Kairi to twist her Keyblade arm out of his grasp. She wrapped both hands around the handle and aimed for the chest to rip out that evil heart.

"Don't you dare!" Giselle snarled, pushing her weight onto her front leg and kicking her leg into a grand battement with the highest extension she could muster. A giant spike of ice shot up between Kairi and Zexion, knocking the Keyblade out of the Princess' hands before she could drive it home. It pushed Zexion away from her but was aimed more towards her side. The sharpened tip tore through both the white and pink of her dress skirt and slashed a cut on her right cheek that narrowly missed her eye. Kairi took a hard fall on the exposed stone pavement. The cut stung.

"Who's the jealous one now?" she muttered through clenched teeth.

Zexion poked his head out from behind the pillar of ice with a smirk. "Come now, there's no reason why you can't join in. You could be a concubine of sorts."

"Never!" Giselle shouted. "Your heart was created by me and it belongs first and foremost to me! This pathetic wench isn't worthy of your attentions. In any case, she wouldn't survive in the kind of world that we would rule over. However, neither will you in your current state. The first kiss of a Snow Queen is said to protect its receiver from the cold forever."

Zexion seemed to mull that over and then nodded. "I see. I guess it's time that I graciously accept that kiss, then."

"No," Kairi protested, pulling herself to her feet. "I won't let either of you get away with this, especially not you." She pointed the Keyblade at Giselle. "Hearts are not toys that you can create and play with. Building an evil heart for the sake of your own twisted fantasy is beyond low."

Giselle chuckled and between her hands she crafted a sharp dagger out of her ice magic. "Oh, listen to you. You're such a child. This is a reality now and pretending you can stop it just by despising it is so juvenile. You see, Zexion, even if you wanted her she wouldn't let you keep her."

"Then fight it out amongst yourselves," Zexion said, looking miffed. "In the meantime, I'll be looking for a way to attack the seat of power. Have fun."

"No, stop!" Kairi shouted, turning around and running up to Zexion.

The space around Zexion warped and blackened as a dark portal swallowed him. Kairi swung down with her Keyblade, reaching as far out to him as she could but he was already gone. Destiny's Embrace swiped through the smoky wisps of darkness uselessly. The Snow Queen laughed at her expense. She balanced her dagger between each index finger.

"You lose, little girl. After all, I did create him for me and now he's about to give me everything I ever wanted." She gripped the ice dagger tightly in one hand and pointed the tip at Kairi. "He's not coming back to help you this time."

"Where did he go?" Kairi demanded, facing Giselle with her Keyblade at the ready.

"That's none of your concern at all, since you won't live long enough to see him again. I'll finish what I started and end you now!"

Giselle rushed forward with the dagger extended.


	56. Conquerors of the Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Kairi lies defeated, Giselle and Zexion start to make plans for the future.

Giselle caught the teeth of the Keyblade with the cross guard of her dagger and pushed it to the side. The mobility of a much smaller weapon allowed her to swing her arm back quickly and go for another stab. Kairi stepped back and dodged the dagger. She took a swing at Giselle but she hopped back to get clear of the Keyblade. She danced back into close range faster than Kairi could pull the Keyblade back for another swing. A grand battement clipped Kairi hard under the chin so powerfully that it sent the Princess tumbling into a backwards somersault. She winced as her back slammed into the short steps of the gazebo. Giselle smirked and lifted both of her arms slowly until they were straight out in front of her with her fingers delicately poised. Kairi noticed the short moment of shimmering above and below her and launched herself off the steps before a huge array of deadly ice spikes erupted from the steps and the eave, closing tightly like the fangs of a vicious animal. She took a deep breath of relief and scrambled back to her feet, charging at Giselle.

She went for a reckless slash that Giselle parried with her leg gracefully. As she spun she summoned a pillar of ice in front of her that blocked Kairi's next axe-like attack. Giselle tapped the pillar with the point of her toe. It cracked so neatly at the base it was as if it had been sliced. Kairi moved to dodge it but it didn't fall on her. Instead, it twisted in mid-air and separated into little balls moulded like wax. The balls of ice suddenly sprouted long, thin needles and crashed down heavily. Kairi lifted the Keyblade over her head and back but it didn't do much to block them. The needles cut and bruised her.

Giselle saw the opportunity to get in a fatal blow. She jumped forward with her dagger poised to stab. However, Kairi wasn't as inattentive as she had anticipated and swung her Keyblade over her head heavily and aimlessly. She struck only for Giselle's general direction using momentum more than strength. Giselle's eyebrows rose at the unexpected move and she hopped out of the way with a diamond-legged jump. With a wave of her hand, ice needles shot out of the ground. Kairi rolled out of the way and was only narrowly missed, getting a nick in the back of her skirts. The long row of tall, deadly needles only stopped when it crashed into the garden wall. With another subtle gesticulation the ice spikes beside Kairi curled over and bore down to spear her. She darted out of the way, charging forwards to stab at Giselle. The Snow Queen gracefully twirled out of the way. She held the dagger above her head during the turn, clutching it daintily. Then she slashed down and cut a deep gash across Kairi's shoulder as the redhead stumbled past her. Kairi hissed and grabbed her arm just under the cut instinctively. It was her right arm too.

She swapped the Keyblade to her left hand and held it in front of her like a fencing sword. She moved forward on her left foot and jabbed at Giselle, almost going off kilter with every step. It was easy for her opponent to keep out of the way, even with little steps. However, the longer reach of the Keyblade meant that Giselle couldn't get a hit in, only retreat. An awkward stab with the Keyblade missed and Giselle jammed her dagger into the teeth. She yanked on it but Kairi managed to keep a strong grip and twisted her magical weapon. The blade of the dagger snapped. Kairi took the opportunity to suddenly move in faster and slash down. Giselle blocked it with the cross guard. She glided to the left and her right leg followed tightly. She pulled the broken dagger away and Kairi stumbled past her.

It was a small feat to reset the dagger blade with ice magic. She adjusted her hold so that the tip was pointing straight at Kairi and stabbed her in the side. Kairi tried to step out of the way but couldn't move fast enough. Giselle drove it down to the hilt.

The dagger was pulled out sharply followed by a short spurt of blood. Kairi stumbled and fell to the ground, shocked by the blow and how much it _hurt_. She tried to put pressure on the wound with her hand but it was too painful to keep a good grip on. Blood oozed between her fingers. Giselle smirked and examined the blood coating her ice blade with glee. She knelt down to wipe the blade clean on Kairi's skirts, not caring that she was tearing new holes.

"My, my, this was far easier than last time," Giselle sneered, standing up and walking away casually. She checked the edge of her tutu to make sure that no blood had splattered onto it. "I suppose that without my raging passions to boost you up you're nothing more than a weak little girl. You had no place interfering with my business."

Kairi groaned and tried to push herself up but it hurt and squeezed more blood out of her wound. "You're the one who involved me in all of this!"

"And you're the moron who took it upon herself to become personally invested in my affairs," Giselle snapped. Satisfied that her outfit still met with her rigorous standards, she turned her back on Kairi fully and pranced to the doors of her castle. "I'll just be with my dear Zexion for a bit but don't worry, I'll be back… eventually. Hopefully in time to watch the last bit of life bleed out of that hole in your side." She cackled and slammed the doors shut.

Kairi began to shiver and her whole body was wracked with waves of a dreadful chill despite the heat in her wounds. She rolled onto her back, even though it ached to do so and moved her hand away from her injury. Her bloody fingers clutched the moonstone around her neck and held it over her breast. If there was still even a tiny amount of magic left within it, she tried to call upon it now.

"I can't let it end like this," she whispered to herself hoarsely. Her hands were shaking as she tried to hold her gem tighter. "If I can be healed there's something more I know I can do."

The sound of her own heartbeat thudded in her ears and blocked out all other sounds. The sky above her became a blanket of golden streaks like a long exposure photograph as her eyes lost focus. Sora and Riku had gone to the trouble of giving her a head start but it would no longer matter. The light faded from her head and her heart.

The moonstone glowed green between her steadily loosening fingers.

* * *

Giselle's throne room was dark except for the crystal lighting at the mirror's end. Zexion stood before her enchanted mirror and his own image stared back at him. The image melted and revealed Disney Town and its castle as seen from a clock tower somewhere. He remembered as a child how a strange mouse wearing pants had appeared, breaking the barriers of his world and revealing to his master and foster father, Ansem the Wise, the existence of a great scientific mystery. This is where the mouse had come from. The mouse ruled this entire world and now he was going to steal it.

Giselle's pointe shoes tapped on the floor as she skipped down the length of the room but he didn't bother to turn around. He was only mildly aggravated when she practically threw herself at him and grabbed his shoulders. She rested her chin on his shoulder. The bony point dug into the flesh in a way that was moderately annoying.

"Look at this kingdom," she said almost reverently, gazing at the town through the mirror. "It's so beautiful when it's covered in snow. I wish it would stay like that forever."

"Then why haven't you made it so? You certainly have the power to do so."

"I was waiting for you."

"Me?"

"Or someone like you," Giselle said, turning her affectionate eyes on him. "Someone who I could have for myself; who can rule with me and who has the power to hold my kingdom forever."

Zexion studied her out of the corner of his left eye and smirked. "You couldn't hold this kingdom on your own, could you?" he mocked haughtily. "You could change it to your own desire but the monarchy is too powerful."

"It has always been disgustingly powerful," Giselle replied bitterly, glaring at the town in the mirror, specifically the castle. "My mother promised me everything when I was a child and she almost fulfilled her promise. She almost managed to turn the world into an eternal arctic dream until a mouse – of all creatures, a mouse! – got in the way and melted her down to a puddle. This time I can make the world mine with my own hands. And with the help of yours."

One of her hands slid down his arm and her fingers wrapped around his hand. She snuggled closer into the crook of his neck. He winced and leaned away from her. Even with the aid of his protection charm he could feel the coldness of Giselle's skin, a frost that originated deep in her heart.

"You're lucky I'm also interested in this world," Zexion said with a shrug. "This place holds so many secrets and answers to questions that Ansem will probably take to his grave. It isn't all the knowledge in the universe but it's a start. Say, wouldn't that be ambitious?" He turned to face Giselle and put his arms around her waist, interlocking his fingers behind her back. Giselle smiled and rested both of her forearms over his shoulders. Her curious eyes urged him to continue. "To take all of the knowledge in the universe. To find it and steal it for myself."

Giselle's smile fell. "You would propose conquering the universe? There's no possible way to amass the military might required for that, surely."

"No, probably not," Zexion admitted. "But there may be a shortcut. They say that there exists a heart so great that it is the Heart of All Hearts. It hides in the darkness and is the resting place of all lost hearts that can't go on. I have a hypothesis – albeit no way of testing it – that it may well even be the heart of the whole universe. If it was controlled, whoever held sway over it would have every world in every realm in the palms of their hands."

"All of them will belong to us," Giselle murmured in awe.

"And all of their secrets will be mine."

Giselle smirked. "You are more than I had ever dreamed of."

"We can start, however, with this little village of a town."

The Snow Queen closed her eyes and leaned towards Zexion, parting her lips slightly. He realised what she wanted and grinned lecherously, sliding one hand up and around her body to grope a breast before leaning down to press his lips to hers. They were a fraction from a kiss, so close that he could feel her frosty breath and she could feel the warmth of his. Suddenly Zexion jumped back and kicked Giselle out of the way. A streak of lightning, coloured the bright yellow of a Thunder spell, split the air between them as they parted. It was so close that they both felt the heat and the charge it radiated. The Thunder spell hit the mirror dead in the centre. Electric arms branched out to the frame, dancing as lightly as a feather over the glass that shone brightly with reflected light. The shine faded in an instant when the mirror shattered into one thousand pieces.


	57. The Warrior Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi's second wind.

Giselle shrieked in horror. The many pieces of her broken mirror fell to the ground and tinkled like a sweet, little wind chime. Zexion stared it with wide eyes. The frame stood empty, with only a few shards still hanging on to the silver and the rest scattered over the floor in front of it, littering the area around their feet. Giselle became weak-kneed, staring down in disbelief as if she'd just watched a family member get murdered right in front of her. She couldn't get herself back together, even as her face contorted into the ugliest expression of rage that Zexion had ever seen. She turned around, jaw clenched and teeth bared as she searched for the caster.

"Who did that?" she growled.

The culprit was easy to spot, standing right in front of Giselle's throne. Giselle's jaw dropped. The tattered, bloodstained dress that was once a ball gown was all anyone needed to see to recognise her. Kairi stood stock still with Destiny's Embrace pointed at the mirror. The way she was staring at them made Zexion's eye twitch in irritation. It was a guarded glare, not emotionless but quite hard to read. It was a familiar gaze but one that didn't seem to come from Kairi's own soul. Zexion suddenly remembered where he'd recently seen it: in the throne room after defeating two quite powerful Unversed.

Giselle screamed in frustration. "How can you be here?! I left you bleeding and dying out there!"

"There's something more that can be done," the Princess of Heart said, shifting the Keyblade so that it was held horizontally in front of her with her other hand bracing the shaft near the teeth, "but Kairi won't be able to win alone. This is the last thing I can do for her and then I will no longer be able to protect her."

Giselle lifted both arms. An array of ice spikes shot out of the floor, heading for Kairi. She nimbly dodge rolled out of the way with skill and grace that were both not her own. Giselle moved one arm in an arc over her head and the spikes curled over. Kairi got to her feet and began to run to the back of the room alongside the row of ice. The spikes smashed through the floor but Kairi kept a couple of steps ahead of them. Giselle growled in irritation as Kairi approached. She lifted one leg and promenaded to her left, then lowered it as she leaned forward to keep the ninety degree angle at her hips. The floor around the steps of the mirror's podium shone and rippled. The ripples rolled into small barrel waves, shuddered and then suddenly burst into several rows of short, needle-sharp spikes, pointed outwards to defend the podium like a bastion.

Kairi didn't slow. When she reached the knee-high barrier she simply leaped over it. It was too wide to complete in just one jump. Just as her leading foot was about to be skewered it was ringed by glittering magic. She leaped off the air as if it were solid, propelled forward to the podium by a magical force. Her right arm was pulled back in preparation to landing a punishing blow.

Zexion summoned his Lexicon from the abyss. He opened it and the pages fluttered rapidly, seemingly never-ending. Kairi stabbed the Keyblade at Giselle but the teeth met the resistance of a Reflect barrier. The shield glowed, about to return the attack. Kairi's left palm glowed a similar pink colour. She slapped it down on the shield in front of her, casting another Reflect on top of Zexion's. The counter bounced off the second shield too fast to block or dodge. The white shot from the counter hit Giselle right in her middle, throwing her off her feet. She slammed into the wall. Zexion disappeared into a dark portal, once again disappearing just before Kairi could land an attack on him. She sliced through the empty darkness and six dark portals appeared on the other side of the spike field, three on each side of the spike row. The blackness cleared and there stood six images of Zexion. All of them had a Lexicon and there was no way of telling one apart from the other. Kairi turned to face the room and lowered her weapon. Her eyes travelled from left to right, examining the illusions.

Suddenly the spikes in front of the steps rotated to face inwards. Kairi turned to the wall. Giselle stood with one hand on her hip and the other out to her side. She glared hatefully at Kairi as she lifted her left foot to her ankle and flexed it. Her foot struck out to beat the floor. The spikes shot out of the floor like missiles. Kairi cast a full Reflectra. The ice spikes smashed against the spherical shield with such force that they disintegrated right down to shards as small as snowflakes. The barrier took on a glow as each strike added to the potential energy of the counter. They crashed against the magic force field like machine gun fire until every spike had been expended, leaving the glowing ball of the Reflectra spell. The white ball compressed into a ring that blew out as a shockwave in retaliation. Giselle and the images of Zexion all ducked under the wave but one image was too slow and fizzled away after getting hit in the head by the wave. The row of spikes was levelled. It was so powerful that a ring of cracks dented the entire throne room.

Kairi lifted her Keyblade above her head, pointing it straight at the ceiling. Zexion swore loudly but it was too late. There were two things one should never give a magic user in the thick of battle: space and higher ground. A thick streak of lightning shot out of the tip of the Keyblade and split into a large fork. Each bolt rained down upon the floor. The Zexion clones ran about to keep away from the thunderbolts, splitting into two images each time they changed direction so that their numbers were constantly doubling. A few of them ran up the steps to engage in close combat with Kairi. She guarded herself with Aerora. As they reached the top of the stairs Kairi rushed in to slash at the first image to make it. He blocked her strike with his book. It felt solid. Kairi pulled the Keyblade down, hooking the teeth over the top of the book and tearing it out of his grasp. She stepped forward to punch him with a left hook but the image dissipated into black smoke as soon as it connected.

Another image advanced on her left, swinging his Lexicon in a wide arc to slug her in the shoulder. She narrowly dodged it but still received a hit from the right by a hard-covered magic book. Pages fluttered and she turned her attention to the image on her right. Electric sparks flew out of the pages of the open Lexicon and zapped her but it was a mere sting as most of the magic was blown away by Aerora.

The space around Kairi was getting tighter as clones advanced. They kept on multiplying and many were simply standing behind the forerunners and filling in space to crowd her in. Four of them were already too close for comfort. Kairi cast a defensive Fire spell that vanquished them. She began to charge a Firaga shot as she turned. Another Zexion image was about to attack from behind. She parried the book blow with an uppercut from the Keyblade and let her spell fly. It fired through the image and several others behind it, leaving a path clear of clones. Another Kairi stared back at her. She gawked at it in surprise. How could the mirror have been restored?

Suddenly it got a bit darker than before. Kairi glanced around quickly. The darkness was the multiple reflections of Zexion's dark clothing. The whole room had been transformed into a maze of mirrors. Kairi set her lips in a hard line and sighed through her nose. It would be no use trying to goad him; Zexion wasn't the type to let his defences down so easily. She would just have to find the centre of the illusion.

She cast some Blizzard spells in the free space she had won, dissipating as many copies as she could. She cast a more powerful Blizzara spell but let it freeze on the end of her Keyblade, using it swing down on a couple of the images like a club. Enemies approached from the right and she turned to them and summoned a cluster of ice crystals right underneath them, which erupted from the floor and skewered them. The crowd moved in tighter. Kairi pointed her Keyblade to the ceiling and summoned a whirlwind of ice crystals the size of boulders. Many images disappeared in the onslaught. She cast a more offensive Aeroga spell to blast the crystals as far out as possible, bowling over more illusions. The ice crystals passed through the mirrors as if they were made of water, causing them to ripple. The rippling reached out to the very edges of every mirror and crossed over onto the next until the walls and ceiling were a confusing mess of incoherent squiggles and nauseatingly distorted reflections.

The podium was mostly clear but there was still an army of illusions at the bottom of the steps. Those left still standing around her were doubling again. Kairi ducked under a strike from a nearby image and sliced it in half. She manoeuvred away from them with a series of cartwheels augmented with Fire magic. At the top step she took a larger jump and somersaulted over the steps and the illusions below her. She dived into the crowd, creating a column of light that evaporated nearby clones, before casting a spell that summoned a giant, spiked ice crystal. It spread out for a couple of metres and then shattered, taking everything frozen inside with it. She pointed her Keyblade upwards again, conjuring a ball of lightning above her. Several smaller thunderbolts rained down over the images around her, zapping them away one by one. The light they created was doubled and Kairi briefly noted that the ripples were slowing. The battlefield was getting easier to see without such a distracting background.

A flicker of magic beneath Kairi caught her eye and she cartwheeled out of the way just as a giant ice spike shot out of the ground, towering to over twice her height. Another one appeared and she dodged that one too, using Thunder magic to boost her cartwheel and take out an extra illusion while she was at it. She planted a magnet spell in the air above her and rolled out of the way as another ice spike rose up. The next one was easier to dodge, drawn to the magic magnet, as it was. She ran out of the way of another and cut down a few more illusions. One of them rushed her on her right, pushing her with the solid force of a block of ice. It shoved her towards her magnet, putting her in the direct range of another appearing ice spike.

With a little magic, Kairi took a leap off thin air to dodge and slid back to her previous position. She cast Magnera, putting the orb in mid-air and choosing the clone that had just pushed her as the focus. The camouflage of Zexion's image fell as a thin, humanoid ice figure was yanked off its feet and into the magnet. Anything similar to it was also grabbed. They appeared from various places, most of them close to her, all hidden within the illusions. She had immediately started charging up a thunder ball. As soon as she touched the ground she threw it up into the Magnera spell. The clash of spells created a loud explosion that sent lightning strikes soaring in almost every direction, hitting the mirrors and causing them to ripple even more. Kairi dashed out of the way of an incoming bolt and slid underneath all of the images towards a part of the mirrors that wasn't rippling.

There was a small gap between a large, wavering surface and a multifaceted corner. Kairi raced around it and down a small corridor with still mirrors on her left reflecting the ripples on her right. Zexion's doppelgangers suddenly stepped out of the rippling side of the mirror, barring her way. She charged ahead, holding the Keyblade at her side like a lance. The first one in front of her held its book up to block the attack. The Keyblade hit with a loud _thunk_ and a powerful recoil that had Kairi stumbling back. The book glowed white. Kairi jumped and tried to vault over it but the image suddenly vanished, leaving Kairi flailing into nothing while a Reflect shield the size of a large book exploded. It sent her careening towards the line of clones blocking her. The second image was suddenly sucked into a dense, little ball. The ball burst into flames and launched itself at her. It exploded like a firework on impact. The smaller, weaker fireballs were sucked into the mirrors with barely a ripple. The surfaces went pink and transparent and then glowed white. Kairi cast Reflect as little white counter-shots were fired straight back to her. The counter strikes were gathered and thrown back indiscriminately.

An illusion suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind her. She saw it in the mirror and turned around to slash it. It felt solid so she hit it several more times until she felt the give of a shattered ice statue. She seemed pause there for a moment and another doppelganger behind its vanquished ally immediately went up to bludgeon her, only for its attack to go straight through. It looked up, seeing the real Kairi racing down the hall cutting through an image with a ring of Fire and slashing through a second that turned out to be empty. An ice wall shot up between her and her next target. Kairi didn't have enough time to skid to a stop and crashed into the thick wall. Despite how much that hurt she pushed herself off the wall, leaving the image of her crashed against it. She coated herself in a cloak of flame and charged a mighty Firaga spell to shoot at the wall. The wall cracked but her afterimage remained for a while. She powered up her fire coating just as another moving ice statue tried to grab her. Its top half melted away and its illusionary cloak fizzled out. She charged at the wall and broke through it in a flurry of ice chunks and water vapour. The image behind the wall took a swing at her but hit nothing but an afterimage. The real Kairi dived down on it in a column of destructive light.

She took off running down the corridor again and then suddenly skidded to a halt. An image of hers stayed as she turned around and then ducked into an opening that led into a narrower corridor. Here the floor was now also a mirror. The place was a confusing tunnel of pink, red and silver. Two of Zexion's illusions slid out of the wall mirrors. Kairi cast Thundera in the narrow hall. The illusions dissipated into smoke, revealing nothing hidden inside. The spell hit a mirror at the end of the hall and it glowed white. Kairi threw a Blizzara spell at it before the Reflect barrier could counter. There was a shattering sound and then two more options presented themselves. Zexion's darkly dressed images appeared on one side. Kairi appeared to be rooted, unable to decide. An image charged forward and its punch went straight through her head. She was already running into the brighter path.

The small corridor finished with a dead end. Kairi cast another Thunder spell and then a Magnet spell focussed on the mirror at the end. The bolts bounced off Reflect mirrors, causing them to ripple and glow but the counter strikes were bound to be weak this time. Most of the magic was drawn in by the magnet. With a well-aimed Fire spell the magnet overloaded and the illusionary mirror shattered without a sound.

The room she had just entered was round and also mirrored. In the centre of the room an invisible image wavered in time with the ripples of the mirrors around it. It was difficult to see but Kairi charged for it. She met resistance in the form of a barrier but it shattered on impact – not a Reflect spell. She charged again, this time leaving an afterimage in her wake. Staying quick on her feet, she darted in and out, focusing thirteen large beams of light in the approximate location of the wavering space. Her afterimages added to the confusion of the crazy moving reflections. To finish it she leaped up and dived down into the centre of her ring. There was a bright flash that filled the entire room, blinding everything.

* * *

" _What's happening? I can see myself… I can feel myself and yet… I don't feel like myself. Was I always this strong? Is this something I've remembered from a time long ago…? How could it be?"_

" _This isn't a memory of yours, rather of mine. Master Eraqus sometimes said that I left too much of myself behind when I put charms on things. Funny, I thought I'd outgrown that."_

" _Who's there?"_

" _I just wanted to protect you. I knew you were special from the moment I met you. I'm a friend. You don't remember?"_

" _How did you…? Are you… inside me?! In my heart?! Get out!"_

" _I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd take it so personally."_

" _Are you controlling me?"_

" _Mm… yes and no. There's a piece of me that has always been close to your heart and a memory of me that has always been inside your heart. Lately there's been a piece of you that seems in control of it all, shaped by memories that have been erased. It's like another 'face' of yourself, if you will. This facet of your being drew me into your memory of me and imprinted onto it my memory of myself. Those memories were then imprinted onto a different image in your heart; the image of yourself. If that makes any sense, hehe!"_

" _I think I get it. Some unconscious part of me tricked myself into thinking I was you or something, right?"_

" _I suppose… if it makes it easier for you to think of it like that, it's fine."_

" _Then this isn't me. This power is really yours. I never had the power to fight the witch or save Zexion. What was I thinking?"_

" _No, no! It's not like that at all! You may have my memory of me but my power doesn't follow this memory. There was none left after all."_

" _Then where… how…?"_

" _It's like you said: you just somehow tricked yourself into believing you were me for a while. There was no other power here to use other than your own."_

" _So, I was being me pretending to be you using my power, or I was being you thinking I was still me, or you were being me using my power? I'm confused."_

" _Maybe it was all of the above."_

"… _I'm still confused."_

" _I knew… I had the feeling that when you needed protection you wouldn't be able to protect yourself. The piece of myself in your charm was an accident but in some way it works better like this. Aren't the most critical moments of protection those when you have no one to defend you but you? You made this possible. You found your inner potential and brought it to the surface."_

" _But this isn't me at all! It's you! I never learned any of this awesome stuff!"_

" _But you could do it."_

" _But it was really just you."_

" _No, you could do it. This is your body, your heart, your magic. This charm is dissolving quickly, so I'll say this fast: all of this is within you – you are this strong."_

* * *

Kairi was blasted back by a shockwave. She landed on her feet but stumbled and landed right on her backside. Her head was dizzy with the kind of light-headedness one gets when they've been going too fast for too long. It was difficult to focus her vision but she noticed a point of blue light with blue rings pulsing out of it into a dome shape. The mirrors were gone and the room was no longer so sickeningly confusing to look at. Zexion was sprawled on the floor on his back, propped up on his elbows and glaring at her with affront. Giselle was kneeling over him with both hands over her head, cradling the brilliant blue light. Her slight frame was shaking with the effort of having to conjure the barrier and maintain it against Kairi's final attack. The light and its rings faded and Giselle collapsed onto her hands, breathing hard.

Zexion sat up, ignoring Giselle completely. Suddenly his dark expression turned into a mirthless smirk. "I had no idea you had any of that in you. You're far better than I thought – managing to find the centre of the illusion and break it with magic."

Now it was Kairi's turn to smirk. "I'm not that good, you're just sloppy. You were better at this when you didn't have a heart."

Zexion frowned.

"You… wretch," the Snow Queen huffed, pulling her legs underneath her and grabbing Zexion's shoulder for support. She looked up and glared at Kairi with such dark hatred that she appeared to be more like a vicious beast than a person. The dagger appeared in her hands again. "I swear I will finish you here!" she screamed.

The row of ice spikes had been chipped away as if chunks had been taken out of it. Many of those chunks were now lying on the floor all over the throne room in the form of destroyed or partially destroyed ice men. Some spindly ice men were still standing. Giselle raised the point of her dagger to the ceiling and the ice began to move, melding itself into new ice men. Kairi clambered to her feet and held her Keyblade ready but couldn't stop the dread as the ice surrounded her. Her head was clearer without that strange spirit invading it but she couldn't feel as brave as she had before. The larger spikes that had shot up during the fight began to move more robotically than their small companions. The ice broke into limbs that were blocky and the tops of the spikes slid forward and twisted upside down, forming the jagged jaws of menacing triangular heads. They stepped out of the floor and all turned with heavy, thumping stomps so that they faced the Princess of Heart.

Kairi's hands began to shake. Outnumbered and without the foreign memory she didn't know what to do. Suddenly there was a loud _CRASH_ from above and a cascade of icy rubble fell down behind her, blocking the room's only exits. Kairi turned around and found herself staring into the terrifying face of one of the armoured guardians from the gate. Its glowing red eyes stared emptily at her for a moment and then faded to nothing. A light-hearted chuckle made her look up. Sora was standing on its plated shoulder. He shifted his weight to one leg and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. The arm holding the Keyblade was loose at his side.

"Oops. Sorry."


	58. The Final Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are back and the Destiny Trio is finally ready to put an end to this.

Kairi face split into a wide grin as Sora smiled down at her. She pouted playfully and put her hands on her hips, giving Sora a mock glare. "What took you so long?"

Sora was about to reply but suddenly his face fell. His gaze shifted from looking straight at Kairi to looking behind her. She turned around just in time to see an ice man preparing to swing at her with a hand morphed into an axe. A huge ball of fire blew it out of the way and melted it down. She looked up to the huge hole in the wall and ceiling. Riku stood on the rubble next to the guardian's hip with his Keyblade aimed in Kairi's general direction. He swung the Keyblade over his shoulder and smirked.

"Are we late to the party or are things just getting started?"

Kairi laughed sheepishly. "Well, truth be told, things haven't really gone according to plan."

"I guess we're just in time, then," Sora said. He jumped down from the guardian's shoulder and landed next to Kairi. They exchanged glances and smiled. "It looks like you need a little bit of extra muscle."

Both of them turned to Zexion and Giselle with Keyblades ready, side-by-side. Zexion got to his feet and Giselle sluggishly followed suit. With a simple hand signal from her, the ice soldiers formed a rough formation around them. Sora and Kairi glanced at Riku, who gave them a wry smirk as he readied his Keyblade for another massive Fire-based spell, before nodding to each other. Giselle ordered her soldiers to charge.

Kairi and Sora ran forward immediately. Ahead of them a wall of flame drowned the first few soldiers. Kairi ran through the dying flames, feeling that knot of fear once again as she came up against a wiry ice man with knives instead of fingers. Her heart thumped as she tried to keep in mind the words the spirit from the charm had told her. Its hands shot out to maim her. She swung her Keyblade horizontally. It smashed right through the ice man's waist. Its fingers managed to snag her left shoulder and shredded the sleeve, leaving red gashes in their wake.

"Kairi!" she heard Sora yell in worry.

"I'm okay! Just keep fighting!"

She skidded to a halt as two soldiers crowded her in. She ducked under the mace-fist of one and axe-chopped the knee of the other. The joint cracked and the solider stumbled, missing her with its knife fingers. She rolled out of the way as the mace-fisted ice man swung its club over her. It only managed to shatter its companion. Kairi hopped to her feet and turned to swing her weapon at its head, knocking the ice chunk right off the shoulders. The body still moved without its head and it swung at her again. She braced the end of the Keyblade with her hand and blocked it but the mace was heavy. It pushed her back and put constant pressure on, forcing them into a deadlock. Kairi shoved the weapons to the side to break the stalemate. Then she kicked the ice man in the chest. It landed hard on the floor, hard enough to crack diagonally across the torso.

She turned around. There was still a wall of ice men between her and her real adversaries but they were suddenly wiped away by a rapid stream of gold. Sora had to brace one hand against the floor to help put the brakes on his Rising Sun attack. The gold light coating his body faded and he lit up the end of his Keyblade with Fire. He released it in a ring that surrounded him and took out two of the ice men advancing on him.

The floor shuddered under Kairi's feet. She looked up. One of the giants looked down at her. It made a fist out of one of its giant hands, spikes forming on the knuckles. Kairi dodge-rolled out of the way as it came down hard. It raised its fist again. Kairi darted under it, only to find another almost right behind it. The first one was slow to turn. The second saw her right away and stomped towards her. Kairi pumped the Keyblade with magic and threw it at the second ice giant's head. The giant snapped its jaws and the Keyblade disappeared behind its fangs. Its head exploded in a spectacular shower of ice shards. The Keyblade returned to Kairi's hand.

She looked over her shoulder at the first ice giant towering over her. Both of its fists were armoured with makeshift knuckledusters. It pulled one arm back in preparation to pummel her. Kairi was already ready to dash out of the way. Suddenly an array of cracks burst through the giant's torso. A second impact caused it to shatter into large chunks of ice. Riku burst through the flying debris and stabbed his Keyblade into the chest of the headless ice giant. Large cracks appeared over the giant's body. With a simple twist the giant burst into chunks and shards.

Riku landed gracefully on the floor behind Kairi. She smiled but Riku was too busy taking down the smaller ice soldiers in front of him to take notice. Kairi turned around to look for her next adversary just in time to lean out of the way as an ice dagger was thrust at her. She stumbled backwards and lost balance. Giselle turned and glared down at her with contempt. Kairi scurried back on her hands and feet. The Snow Queen's front leg glided forward and her back leg followed close behind. Kairi kicked her legs over her head and somersaulted out of the way as icy spikes shot out of the ground. She scrambled to her feet and held the Keyblade out in front of her. They glared at each other across the pool of spikes.

Giselle raised both hands in front of her and parted the spikes like waves. They curled like smoke at her sides and on her commanded they struck at Kairi like snakes. Kairi ducked under the strikes and ran in to close the distance between her and Giselle. She swiped at Giselle but the ice witch danced out of the way. The ice lashed out and snagged Kairi by the ankle, tripping her up. It banked up and enveloped her legs, solidifying into a solid block of ice. Kairi tried to pull herself out but it was futile. The ice block was frozen to the floor. Giselle chuckled and approached Kairi. She took every step slowly and gracefully, savouring the moment.

"That's where you ought to be," she said in a low voice, "on your hands and knees before the Queen. But it's too late to try begging for mercy. This is the end of you!"

She lifted the dagger and twirled it in her hand so that the dagger pointed downwards. She drove the dagger towards Kairi's neck. In a blind panic Kairi raised the Keyblade to defend herself and knocked Giselle's hand hard with the knuckle bow. The dagger went spinning into the air over Giselle's head. She gasped but her look of surprise quickly twisted into one of anger.

"Kairi! Right behind ya!" Sora yelled out.

Kairi looked over her shoulder briefly as Sora leaped out of the battlefield and smashed the ice block keeping her captive. She got to her feet to make a swing at Giselle that was blocked by a large wall of ice that the witch summoned like a wave. Sora shot the wall with a Fira spell that melted a large hole in the middle and Kairi jumped through. Giselle had to turn and do a jeté to narrowly dodge Kairi's swipe at her. She continued to flee with a series of pirouettes. With each turn a small blade of ice formed hovering in the air around her, which flicked back at Kairi upon completion of the turn. The first one missed. The second one cut through Kairi's skirt as she charged forward. The third Kairi managed to dodge by moving to the side.

She went for a vertical slash as Giselle paused to change steps. The Keyblade was transferred to one hand for more reach but Giselle suddenly changed direction. The Keyblade sliced through air. Giselle used the same spell but multiple knives came from it, whirling around her body and then shooting at Kairi. The redhead dived left into a roll but the blades still caught her on the right leg, slicing shallow but bloody cuts into her fair skin.

Giselle wobbled and had to stop her twirls early, dizzy despite her spotting. She pulled up into a tight position even though she was already breathing hard. Her left foot slid out to set up her next step and spell but her standing leg wobbled and she tilted too far to one side. Luckily there was someone there to catch her before she fell.

"You've pushed yourself too hard," Zexion muttered, pulling Giselle in close to his side with one arm. In the other he held her ice dagger. "Your magic is down. Any more and you'll probably kill yourself."

"My… my magic is fine," Giselle panted, leaning into Zexion and putting her arms around his neck. "I can… outlast her."

"That is quite an overstatement, my dear," Zexion tutted condescendingly. "Your energy is running out. I'm afraid you'll either have to bow out gracefully or lose badly."

Giselle gripped a handful of the material at the front of Zexion's shirt with shaking fingers. "I won't lose! I… I've come too far to lose. You and I can achieve everything we desire. This world… will be our frozen palace… in our glorious, infinite kingdom."

"Or just mine," Zexion said.

And then without so much as batting an eyelid, he stabbed her through the heart.

Time seemed to freeze cold and the moving ice sculptures ground to a halt with it. Giselle stared up at Zexion with wide eyes, confused and questioning. "My… my love?"

"Don't call me 'love', I can't even feel that," Zexion spat, shoving her away from him and onto the floor. Kairi had almost the same expression as Giselle. She got up despite the cuts on her leg and her eyes never left Giselle. The Snow Queen put pressure on her wound with one hand and the blood still dribbled over her fingers and stained her bodice. The colour was so bright, stark against the pallor of her skin and the white of her costume.

"What?" Sora exclaimed. "Why would you even do that? Wasn't she your friend?"

"Oh, right," Zexion muttered with an eye roll. "You weren't ever the sharpest pencil in the tin, were you?"

"Hey!"

"You…" Giselle whimpered, "You're a wretch! I created you to be a ruler beside me. Have you no sense of gratitude? And the whole time you toyed with your pretty pink princess what was she even worth? She would never have been able to take you to Heart of All Hearts; she is so much weaker than I!"

"I would have given you gratitude but you didn't install me with any," Zexion retorted, taking the few steps he needed to be standing over her. She looked angrily up at him. "And how conceited of you to honestly think that you could take me further in the universe than a Princess of Heart. From here onwards you're useless to me."

He struck fast and slashed the dagger across Giselle's throat. The blade cut a deep line that gushed small waves of red. Kairi ran at Zexion, unable to take it any longer.

"Kairi, stop!" Riku shouted, rushing to attack Zexion first. Sora also made a dash to beat her there.

Zexion kicked Giselle's dying body out of his way and summoned the Lexicon. It appeared with its pages already fluttering and they opened up to a jet of violet flame that coiled around a specific area and then suddenly flared up high. Kairi was caught on the inside but Sora and Riku collided with the solid barrier that the cold flames marked the perimeter of. Zexion easily parried Kairi's Keyblade and struck her across the side of the face. Kairi stumbled sideways due to the force of the hit and the entire right side of her face stung. She swayed back to an upright position and stabbed at Zexion. He raised the open Lexicon and the Keyblade was driven into the spine crease.

Zexion smirked. "Thanks for the Keyblade."

Kairi's eyes widened and she grabbed the handle with both hands to try to pry it out of the book. A boot in her gut winded her and caused her knees to buckle. Her fingers loosened on the Keyblade and the pages sucked it in. Zexion snapped the book shut. He stroked the paper with his thumb, grinning maniacally.

"Thank-you for your wonderful donation, Princess," Zexion cackled as he turned to walk away. Kairi reached out to grab his ankles. He kicked her hands away and stepped on her wrist. She still didn't have enough air in her lungs to cry out. "I always used to think there was no point in trying to steal a Keyblade since I couldn't use one myself but it can't hurt to have one in storage, now can it? Maybe I should put you in there too, Princess. I like you, you know. Much more than that degenerate ballerina. You're better looking, definitely. Smarter too. What's-her-face doesn't even have the talent for magic that you have. Although it could have been said that a Princess of Heart would be a better choice _on principle_. Only you can take me where I plan to go."

Zexion leered at Kairi. She glared at him as he took his foot away and his gaze turned to the barrier. He laughed. "It looks like the boys are trying to tell me something."

Kairi turned to look behind her and then in front. Riku and Sora were both yelling something that couldn't be heard through the shield. Sora sometimes tried attacking the barrier whereas Riku had simply given that up already.

"What's the matter?" Zexion teased, throwing his arms out wide. "Is it Kairi? Is she stuck in a well? It's alright boys, I think I've got her now." He laughed out aloud at his own joke. "You both look ridiculous. What do you think you can do? Even when I have to put down this barrier to access the dark portals, I'll be gone before you can even say hello."

Zexion flipped open his book and at that moment Kairi reached out, searching for her Keyblade. The pages turned of their own accord, shocking Zexion. The Keyblade burst out of the paper teeth first and pierced him through the chest. Kairi climbed to her feet and shoved Zexion down. The Lexicon fell out of his grasp and freed the Keyblade completely. Kairi grabbed it by the shaft and wrenched it out of his chest. Radiant beams of light followed it, as well as a glowing orb – his heart. It was as golden as the rest but it frequently flashed with darkness. Kairi gripped the shaft of the Keyblade with both hands and drove the tip of the Keyblade into the hovering orb. The light was suddenly blinding. A shockwave and several forks of lightning erupted from the centre of the heart. Kairi resisted the repellent force and pushed the Keyblade further into it. With a brilliant crack the heart burst into seven pieces that phased out of existence with an anticlimactic pop.

The silence that followed the extinguished heart was heavy. Zexion stared at her with disbelief and a hint of anger in his expression. He raised his right arm. The Lexicon flew off the floor and into his hand but he kept that glare on her. He meant to finish her off. That was when she realised that this job wasn't finished. The darkness of the Snow Queen was all that he'd remember about having a heart. The pages fluttered and Kairi took a breath. She closed her eyes, not quite able to face what she was going to do. She flipped the Keyblade around and pierced her own heart.


	59. A Glimmer in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When it comes down to it, he wouldn't sacrifice her to save himself.

The light from Kairi's heart was so bright that it completely whitewashed the surroundings. Rejected by its host, the free-floating heart searched for the nearest vessel it could find and nestled there. Zexion gasped and clutched his chest as all of a sudden it was cramping. He stared at the girl in front of him, unable to see anyone or anything past her in the blinding light. She smiled at him, apologetic and delighted all at once. He had felt so violent, vengeful and vindictive before but now that had faded and he could look at this girl with new feeling. He regarded her as if she were a stranger whom he was so happy to get to meet. The light began to dim as the heart settled and the girl before him grinned with relief. She was all smiles and blonde hair. That's when the darkness of doubt settled in and Zexion recalled what he had been doing up until now, what he had done, and what he was planning to do. And he quickly recalled that this wasn't his heart.

Before the light could go he rushed to close the gap between them in a tight embrace. The brilliance came back even stronger than ever. The bright feelings left him and he was hollow inside once again but for once in a long time he was highly aware of it. He pushed Kairi away and in a whirl of darkness he was gone.

"Kairi!"

The Princess blinked in confusion and turned her head from left to right, searching for the two voices that called to her. Time ticked too slow as she felt the tipping that meant she was falling but someone caught her. He hugged her tightly from behind. She tried to take a deep breath.

"Ack! Air! Can't breathe!" she gasped.

"Sorry!"

The hold on her middle loosened. She looked up and the first face she saw was Riku's, torn between being furious and being relieved. She turned to face Sora, who was just concerned.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said.

"Don't ever do that again!" Riku scolded. "Why would you even _think_ of doing something like that?"

"Because…" Kairi murmured, looking around at the ruined throne room. Most of the ceiling and the walls had collapsed at one end, blocking the only entry and exit points Giselle had in this room. The only way out would be through that hole in the roof. The floor in the rest of the room was a mess of shattered ice, crumbled stone and leftover spikes with a pool of broken glass lying under the mirror frame. "Zexion needed that if he ever wants to be himself again… or at least his old self."

Riku wrenched her out of Sora's arms to give her a crushing hug of his own. "It's not worth it, Kairi, so don't do it again."

"It was totally worth it," Kairi wheezed, wrapping her arms around Riku's shoulders. "Zexion isn't evil, so there's no point in punishing him." She looked around the room again, this time with apprehension. "Where's the witch?"

Riku released her and he and Sora scanned the room. The ice dagger was there, abandoned in a puddle of blood but there was no trail leading away from it.

"Maybe she disappeared through a portal," Sora guessed. "Or she could have melted or something. It's part of her element."

Kairi and Riku both laughed at that.

"Whatever happens to her, what happened to us is already over," Riku said. "We should go back and tell The King about it, especially if there's even a small possibility that she's still alive."

Kairi sighed, already daunted by the task ahead. "It's going to be a long walk…"

* * *

A dark portal manifested in the observatory of Disney Castle. Zexion stepped into the unlit room and the portal disappeared. A chilly wind blew through the open windows and fluttered some of the papers on the wall. Zexion approached them and put his hand on the paper, letting himself fall onto the wall as if he was exhausted. What he felt was an emotional exhaustion more than anything and that was strange in and of itself. He already felt the familiar hollowness of heartlessness inside.

He gazed at his notes, not even trying to focus on his messy handwriting. All of the work he'd done, what had it led to? His experiment had worked the way he had anticipated it would and yet he was still incomplete. Perhaps all he needed was a more wholesome set of ingredients but how long would it take to collect all of that? He touched his chest over his heart. The organ pumped steadily as all do. The feeling of Kairi's heart inside him for just a moment brought old memories to the fore of his mind. For a while he remembered what it _used_ to feel like to have a real heart. He would have cursed himself for not taking the opportunity to examine and analyse himself more closely while in that state but he already knew logically that it wouldn't have been possible. The rush of feeling he had experienced was too complex to quantify in a short amount of time and he'd been overcome by something – no, a combination of things – that had guided his actions like a compulsion. He couldn't bear the thought of forcing her to be without her heart for a second. He didn't want to be the one who took it from her. He seemed to care far too much.

His fingers closed over his notes, crumpling the paper. He tore a handful of them off the wall. They were useless to him now. He could repeat the experiment and while it would forge a modem for some emotions it would never fully emulate a real heart. It was essentially square one.

"This has been a wasted effort," he muttered darkly to himself. He picked up the bottom of another page of notes with his fingers. He studied it briefly and then tore it off the wall. "In all of these years – eleven long, useless years – I've never been any closer to regaining what I lost."

He put his other hand on the wall and walked along it, snagging the papers with his fingers and letting them rip as he pulled them. "Nothing I can do… nothing anyone can do will bring me what I need."

He came to one of the open windows and flung as many papers he could out into the air. The wind snatched them up but couldn't carry them far. They floated over the castle roof like giant snowflakes. He stared at the dim town. Most of the lights were out now that it was late. He turned away violently, shrouding himself in darkness to transport himself somewhere else. The recent events caused him to remember so much more vividly the negativity of emotions like envy, anger, and bitterness. If not for Kairi he may have begun to think that that was all there was and forgotten what it was like to have happiness, hope, and wonder.

He stepped into the wide, moonlit space of the ballroom. The lights were out. Most of the stage had been packed up and the cloths had been taken from all of the tables. The tables were folded and all pushed against one wall, ready to be transported away in the morning. The curtains were pulled open and Zexion could see a mostly transparent reflection of himself in the windows. The closer he got to it the more transparent it became, washed out by the light of the moon until it disappeared when he was right in front of the glass. The balcony and the gardens were void of any sound or movement. It seemed lifeless out there. His reflection was gone, leaving nobody.

"Nobody…" he whispered to himself, "there's nobody here…

 _"Look at me, merely,_  
_A shadow of someone_  
_Who used to be. Clearly,_  
_There's nothing I can do_  
_But make-believe one day I'll be_  
_Somebody the worlds can see."_

He looked at the back of his hand and peeled his glove off. There was a real human hand underneath the cloth, warm and tangible just like any other human's. But flesh and bone are just flesh and bone; mere objects in space. Zexion, Vexen, and Lexaeus (Ienzo, Even, and Aeleus as well) had done numerous experiments and exercises in the creation of flesh and bone that lived, breathed and moved just like any other. It always missed that one thing that would make it truly existent. And now he was missing it too… again.

 _"In the end, my heart_  
_Is something I can never_  
_Hope to forge. With a start_  
_I realise that I can't ever_  
_Light the candle of my being._  
_My soul remains pitch black and bleeding."_

The room darkened. He looked up from his own hands and at the sky. The moon was setting and had dipped behind another wing of the castle. The balcony was covered in shadow. The only light shining directly on him was the starlight. He couldn't help but think about Kairi. She could have ended him instead. She could have turned and ran once she destroyed his heart and broken his barrier. She could have stayed at the ball and left him to Giselle. There were so many things she could have done other than save him. He leaned against the window.

_"But…_

_A glimmer in the dark_  
_Is small but I can hope_  
_That it's the mark_  
_Of a new star rising up_  
_So high that it will never drop._  
_And it's light won't stop."_

Perhaps she could still save him. Maybe she still would.


	60. Saved the Last Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the quiet aftermath, they have the time to put things back to rights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Well, that's it - that's my story. Complete and slightly more polished than the fanfiction.net version. Hopefully this paves the way for me to finally finish this stage and move on the next installment of this saga. 
> 
> Comment or kudos, tell me anything you thought about this. I'm always looking to do better in the future :)

Kairi wandered the halls of Disney Castle slowly and aimlessly. Her eyes roamed the floors, walls and ceilings, taking in all of the details and committing as many of them to memory as she could. She had declined to go out and help Chip, Dale, Sora, and Riku fix the Gummi Ship. With any luck the Destiny Island trio would be able to return home by the afternoon. Kairi was already dressed in her clothes from the islands but had also put on a pair of white tights and a denim jacket since it was still very cold in Disney Town. The visit had been so short and yet she knew she would miss Monica, Max, Tabitha and Mir terribly. She already dreaded the prospect of never seeing them again and hoped that wouldn't be the case.

She wandered down a familiar corridor. Music was playing nearby, an orchestral piece with a three-count beat. She smiled as she peeked into the armchair room and continued on down to the studio. Her pace picked up a little bit, eager to see Monnie practising her ballet one last time. Kairi loved to see the little mouse dance. That was probably going to be one of the things Kairi missed the most about the castle. The piece was familiar to her. It was same music that played for Daisy's performance. She'd heard it even before then, she just couldn't remember when.

Kairi pushed open the doors to the studio excitedly. The look of delight fell and gave way to puzzlement when she found it empty. There was no class and no little princess dancing away under the supervision of her nanny. There wasn't even a gramophone or stereo to play the music she was hearing and yet it was loudest in here.

She walked into the room. It really was empty. The sun was out and lit the room brightly. Semi-consciously, Kairi began to walk out toe-first. She held her hands up at around chest height as if she was dancing and began to take random steps. Most of them were amateurish imitations of moves she'd seen Monica, Ernabella, and Giselle doing. Some of them were completely made up. She danced a random pattern from one end of the room to the other. At the other side she did an amateurish boureé right up to the window and looked out. The environment was almost too bright to look at. The sun reflected off the snow, making it shine. Kairi turned around and looked up at the old windows in the old ballroom where she and Max had observed Monnie's ballet classes. Her eyes widened with a sudden epiphany. She ran back across the room and into the corridor. It was quite a long way to get where she was going but she eventually found the hall with the statue of Donald's great-aunt and the small stairs the led to the hidden ballroom. She followed the music up the stairs, wondering who was playing it and why.

At the top of the stairs the ballroom was as dim as it always was but in the light from the windows she could see the silhouette of someone standing next to a gramophone playing that orchestral music. They looked up and noticed her but Kairi wasn't close enough to see what their reaction was. She kept walking towards them.

"Zexion…?"

"Now you're choosing to call me by my name," he said. He smirked but there was nothing malicious about it.

"I was wondering where you went," Kairi said, reaching out to grab his hand. He was solid. "You disappeared straight away. I thought…"

"You thought?"

"I thought that maybe you had died or been erased. I didn't think I'd get to say goodbye before I went."

"Did you really want to?"

"Sure. Why wouldn't I?"

"Not after what took place? You're quite the forgiving one."

Kairi giggled. "I see you've gone back normal, then."

Zexion's face seemed to fall and he turned away, sliding his hand out of Kairi's. "I wish I could say that was really so. Or that it's a good thing." He paused. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Are you really asking for an answer to that?" Zexion asked, turning his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

Kairi looked down at the floor mural to think about that for a moment before replying: "Not really… I'm just saying that I don't think you really have to be sorry."

"I do. I was an active agent in the experiment that took place. That experiment eventually failed and you and your friends bore the brunt of the consequences."

"But you warned me about that," Kairi said. Zexion turned more towards her and gave her a questioning look. "You told me I had to trust you and I decided that I would. I don't blame you for what happened. It isn't wrong to want to live without emptiness and I know that Ienzo must have been a nice kid since you weren't awful to me before taking up that weird, dark concoction the ice witch made up."

Zexion's eyebrows shot up towards his hairline. "'Ienzo'?"

Kairi blinked and then realised that was a name she had just dropped. "Oh! I don't know where that came from. That's your name, isn't it?"

"It _was_ my name. I no longer have any claim to it."

"I don't know why I knew that. When I asked you if we knew each other you told me we didn't!" Kairi pouted indignantly.

"It wasn't a lie so much as stretched truth." Zexion shrugged. "At most we knew _of_ each other but we were not friends or even acquaintances, even though you once tried. I'm daring enough to say that I knew you better than you knew me. However, that's neither here nor there."

The musical piece ended and the needle rolled off the vinyl. Zexion lifted the needle and removed the record. He flipped it over and put it back, placing the needle on the edge to start the second side. It was another three-count piece that was a bit slower than the first. Kairi didn't recognise this one. Zexion took a few steps towards her and bowed formally like a prince to a princess.

"May I have this last dance?" he asked, lips tweaked into a smile.

That request flustered Kairi and she looked around frantically as if Zexion might possibly have been talking to someone else. "Um… the ball's over but, uh, okay, I guess."

Zexion held his hand out for hers. He pulled her close and put one hand around her waist. She swallowed nervously as she put one arm over his shoulders. They were much closer than they had been at the ball. Zexion led since he was much surer of the steps than she was. He kept it simple so that she could follow along. Waltzing across the floor like this was so much fun, stepping lightly like she was walking on clouds and her insides tickling with warm fuzziness. It was just like being at the ball. She wasn't even aware that she was smiling broadly by the time the musical piece came to a close. Zexion let go of her waist and she twirled out of the closed position like a ballerina. She only managed a few steps since the tight turns made her quite dizzy. She stopped and looked back at her dance partner. He was looking back at her with a face that wasn't quite blank but not quite expressive either. There was something like pain in his expression. Her smile fell and she walked back to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'll be fine."

"But you seem upset."

"I don't feel any emotions, so that's a moot comment. However, I may have an explanation: the last thing I felt before rejecting your heart was overwhelming guilt, sorrow, and regret."

"Why?"

"Why did you try to give up your heart for me? I believe that is a more critical question. Your heart is not mine to take. It would be selfish and cruel of me to keep it. You took a big risk to try to save me – or at least what's left of me – that could have ended with both of us losing our hearts."

"Zexion, stop!" Kairi interrupted. "I've already told you this and you don't seem to understand! You're not an evil person and you didn't deserve to be made evil the way the ice witch did. You didn't deserve to be left that way either. That's why I had to do what I did."

"You gave me far more than I deserved."

"I'll decide if what I choose to give is what that person deserves," Kairi retorted. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Zexion. "You're just as deserving as all the other important people in my life."

Zexion stood still. He breathed evenly and Kairi didn't move. They stood together in silence until eventually Zexion pushed her away gently. She looked up questioningly and he looked down perfectly expressionlessly.

"It's almost time. Say goodbye to your friends at the castle before you leave." He turned away and began to walk with long strides towards the windows.

"Goodbye then," Kairi said. Zexion stopped. "See you soon."

"I probably won't see you again."

"You have to. With the ability to use the Dark Corridors you don't even have the excuse of distance. So we should see each other again and we should be friends."

Zexion stared at the light from the tall windows. "That's what you said when you met Ienzo."

"The only one stopping you is yourself."

Zexion chuckled dryly. "Yes… it was the same back then too."

"Then we should meet again in the future and I'll help you get your heart back. If you haven't found it already, that is."

Zexion wrapped himself in darkness and teleported out of the old ballroom. Kairi sighed. She stared at the spot where he'd been almost silhouetted by sunlight and blue sky and then turned around to take the stairs back down to the main levels.

* * *

The weather stayed sunny and clear well into the afternoon. When Kairi stepped outside there was hardly a breeze but that didn't matter. Any breeze was likely to be a cold one and a still day was perfect for launching a spaceship. A temporary contraption was set up on one of the larger lawns for Sora and Riku's Gummi Ship. It was pointed up to the sky like a rocket. She checked that she had all of her pencils and papers before heading down to the launch site.

A crowd was already gathered there to see the Destiny Island trio off. Mickey and Minnie had made some time to be there, as well as Donald, Goofy, Max, Mark Mocking, Monica, and Mir. A ladder was propped against the ship leading up to the cockpit. Chip and Dale slid down the sides of the ladder and hopped onto the shallow snow. Sora and Riku stood together beside the ladder and they both brightened when they saw her coming.

The first to break ranks was Monica. She ran up and hugged Kairi around the legs tightly. "Kairi! I'm gonna miss you sooo much! Promise you'll come back and visit?"

"Of course," Kairi replied, smiling down at her friend.

"Make sure it's in April for Easter and the Spring Festival. And then you should come back again for the Summer Solstice and-"

"Now, now, Monica," Mir interjected. "Kairi will return when she can."

"It was a pleasure to meet you in person," Minnie said, pulling her daughter away. "You'll always be welcome at Disney Castle."

"Thank-you," Kairi replied, crouching down to give the queen and princess each a hug. "And don't worry Monnie, I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise. I can't wait to see you dance again."

Monnie put her hands behind her back and lifted her shoulders bashfully but Kairi could tell by her smile that she was flattered.

"Maybe I'll even see you sooner than expected," Mickey added. "You've grown a lot in the short time you were here."

"Of course, I'll definitely be there next time the universe needs saving," Kairi said, standing up and giving Sora and Riku a defiant stare, daring them to speak against her.

"We'll see," Riku said, raising an eyebrow in acceptance of the challenge but he was smiling good-naturedly.

"Do take care of yourself," Mir said kindly. "There's no need to go rushing into an adventure."

Mark Mocking perched himself on Kairi's shoulder. "Your presence will be missed around the castle, surely. I believe the preparations for your vessel have been completed."

"All systems are go," Chip confirmed, giving them a thumbs-up.

"Well, I guess we should get moving," Sora said.

"It was nice to see you again," Goofy chimed, "even though me 'n' Donald were pretty busy."

" _I_ was busy," Donald muttered. "Thanks for all of your help, Kairi."

"Yeah, you were pretty cool," Max added with a lazy shrug. He put his hand out for her. "It'd be pretty awesome if you came back and visited sometime." Kairi took the hand he offered but instead of shaking it she pulled him in close and trapped him in a hug. Max spluttered and half-heartedly tried to push away. "Whoa, hey! Watch the hair!"

"You're a pretty cool kid, Max," Kairi said.

Max coughed and when Kairi let him go he straightened up and tried to regain some composure. "Oh… okay, um, yeah, I guess I'm pretty cool," he said, trying to sound nonchalant but just like Monnie his grin gave him away.

Kairi looked around. The group wasn't complete but nobody else had turned up. She looked up when she heard Sora calling her name from the cockpit of the Gummi Ship.

"We're ready for take-off!" he announced. "What's holding you?"

"Not everyone's here," Kairi said.

"Are you sure?" Riku asked, looking down at the group. "It looks like everyone's here."

Kairi shook her head. Just as she was about to turn around and do another once-over of the area she heard her name being called again. She turned around and spotted the one person she'd been waiting for. The tabby maid was hurrying across the lawn. She'd quickly thrown on a grey, knitted coat and in one hand she carried a brown, leather case. She jogged up to the launch site and was a little out of breath as Kairi ran to meet her.

"Tabitha!" Kairi exclaimed, throwing her arms around the cat. "I'm so glad you made it! What's this? Are you coming too?" she joked.

"What? Oh, heavens no," Tabitha laughed. She held the case out to Kairi. "No, this is for you. You left a few things behind in your room."

"No I didn't," Kairi said, subtly hefting the pencils and paper she held under one arm. "I'm pretty sure I got everything that's mine. And I don't think I would have overlooked that much stuff."

"I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave these things behind," Tabitha insisted. "I packed in your ice skates among other things."

"What? But they weren't mine, I was just borrowing them."

Tabitha laughed again. "Kairi, nobody else used them other than you! They might as well be yours and you should take them."

"I won't be able to use them on the islands," Kairi muttered, taking the case from Tabitha anyway since the maid was not going to take no for an answer.

"Sora and Riku can use Blizzard magic," Donald reminded her. "They can make you an ice rink if you want one. Ain't that right?" He looked up at Sora and Riku, who both looked stunned at the suggestion.

"Er, I'm sure that comes under abuse of power or something," Riku replied.

"But it's no big deal," Sora added with a huge grin on his face.

"Thanks, guys. And thank-you so much, Tabitha." Kairi pulled the maid in for another hug. Tabitha returned it and patted her on the back.

"Whatever for, dear?"

"You took such good care of me the whole time."

"I was only doing my job."

"You did a bit more than that and I just need you to know that I'm grateful for it."

"You're too kind."

Kairi let go and adjusted all of her things so that she was carrying them in one arm. She scaled the ladder to the Gummi Ship's cockpit. Sora and Riku each took some of her luggage to make it easier for her to climb in. Once inside she turned around to give her final waves to the crowd. Her eyes widened in surprise when there was suddenly an extra member of the crowd. Zexion was standing among them. He smiled up at her and waved goodbye. Kairi stared at him and the others in confusion for a moment, wondering how he'd suddenly appeared and why nobody else seemed to notice him but then quickly realised that illusions were Zexion's element. She smiled softly and waved. The crowd waved back, not knowing that that particular wave was directed at the one person they couldn't see.

Pistons and pressure pumps hissed as the Gummi Ship's cockpit closed. Kairi stretched as far out of her seat as she could to see out the window and wave in a huge gesture for the rest of the group. They smiled and one by one turned away to head back to the castle, giving the Gummi Ship the space it needed to launch. Zexion stayed longer and kept looking up. Kairi didn't move from the window as long as he was still there. The engines hummed to life smoothly as Sora started them up.

"You might want to be sitting down for this part," Riku jested.

"Yeah, I will, I just…" Kairi said, glancing at him and then back down to Zexion. He was still there. She gave him another small wave, which he returned before opening his Dark Portal around him and disappearing before the rockets blew him away.

Kairi sat back in her seat. The Gummi Ship took off, rumbling and shuddering as it struggled to break through the atmosphere. Clouds and sky gave way to stars and space. Kairi stared at them in wonder, trying to take in all of the stars at once. One of them was her home world. Her first thought was to go there now. They could do it now that they'd built the Gummi Ship, not a silly, dingy raft. She even had a good idea of where to start. But then she looked at Sora and Riku and noticed for the first time in the past few days that Sora's skin was two shades darker and Riku's shoulders were still tinged with sunburn-red. She smiled at the familiarity of that. There was time to look for her world later. For now the islands would do.

END


End file.
